David Constantine
That Porth Leven man keeps coming back to me
That Porth Leven man keeps coming back to me
Who stood a last round, the usual,
And drank his own up slowly as he always did
And said goodnight one and all and from one and all
Got goodnights back, heartfelt as usual,
But in the cold air turned right not left and slowly,
As he was bound to, went the length of the breakwater
As far as you can go, and further,
And never came up, never came back and his zimmer
Stood there lightly on the edge. Remember
Porth Leven, that night, that moon
When the sea came in with most of the horizon
Most of the western hemisphere came in on us
To that one point which is as far as you can go
And planed down the length of the granite breakwater
Like all her dolphins, like one continuous
Making of dolphins and how they rolled and showed
Their bellies to the sleeping port and in
Back into the matrix then, into her sea
Under her pulsing moon gave back,
Always to come again, the dream of them
And very idea? There, then:
Edge, salt, hilarity. All Souls.
When his loved ones had given him up for lost
They gathered at opening time on the far end and tossed
Four score and two fiery chrysanths on the black
And level sea. These nights when I wake
The Porth Leven man keeps coming back to me.
I need icons. I need people to live up to.
Because of your horizons, because of your western sea.
Page(s) 58
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