Alan Perry
Elegy for a Choirmaster
Like the Later Hardy
he always appears to me now:
waxy-pale and thin in his purple cassock
his ancient whiskers yellowing.
He stands so close
I can see his nostril hair
his temple veins swelling
like fierce little tributaries
as he stands on tiptoe
straining to reach top C, stabbing
the air with his nicotine-stained
finger, one ear cupped
and cocked and always
listening for
the one bum note
from some unhappy chorister
And always outside
beyond the stained glass windows
night is falling: in winter,
hammering the headstones,
rattling to come in;
in summer, gathering on beach
and playing field, seeping through
nave and aisle, pulpit and pew until
Saint and Prophet
are martyred no more
and Mary and Joseph
and all the Wise Men glow
no longer brilliant blue
and yellow and red
but fade into darkness
blacker than lead
he always appears to me now:
waxy-pale and thin in his purple cassock
his ancient whiskers yellowing.
He stands so close
I can see his nostril hair
his temple veins swelling
like fierce little tributaries
as he stands on tiptoe
straining to reach top C, stabbing
the air with his nicotine-stained
finger, one ear cupped
and cocked and always
listening for
the one bum note
from some unhappy chorister
And always outside
beyond the stained glass windows
night is falling: in winter,
hammering the headstones,
rattling to come in;
in summer, gathering on beach
and playing field, seeping through
nave and aisle, pulpit and pew until
Saint and Prophet
are martyred no more
and Mary and Joseph
and all the Wise Men glow
no longer brilliant blue
and yellow and red
but fade into darkness
blacker than lead
Page(s) 51
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