The Year of the Crab
Postscript: Andulusian Afternoon
In the narrow street between the tall
white buildings with jet iron traceries
and whispered secrecies of glass,
which tell you nothing though they hint
at sensuous possibilities, dark shadows slant
and splash on wall and paving-stone. Two children
are laughing as they play with a large black dog
and a pink balloon, while he and she
look down, unseen, from their small balcony.
Behind them, still and cool, the room recalls
once more a Schubert Trio in B Flat
and, as the Scherzo dances, the black dog bounds
and pounces on the light pink globe
of air held tight in shining weightless skin
which quite astounds by bouncing free,
unpunctured by the canine claws,
and, teasing, settles only feet away.
Delighted squeals float up like small balloons.
And this slight incident, without intent,
is beautiful, this moment in a burnished afternoon
in a lofty room in Southern Spain
will be remembered with that nimble tune,
black glossiness of dog and pink balloon,
and if a whisper of uncertainty is heard
between the scherzo and the rondo it affords
a glint of seasoning, a piquancy,
which makes the mortal moment more their own.
Vernon Scannell’s latest collection is Views & Distances (Enitharmon 2000). Other collections include Collected Poems 1950-1993 and The Black and White Days, both from Robson Books. His novel, Feminine Endings, was brought out by Enitharmon in 1999.
Page(s) 53
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