Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Heavily jewelled princesses, with minions cushioned at their feet,
Incline a decorous ear to vina-plucking women;
The painting is a heritage of permanent design,
                                      peacocks, luminous pavilions,
                                      scenes of Vibhasa Ragini,
                                      Indian morning melody.

Muddied camps, where permanence assumes reality of life,
And where there yet remains a deep respect for mystery;
Itinerant dreamers gather round the stock-pot gurgle,
                                      ‘midst caravans unpinnacled,
                                      minstrels all, wheezing at whistles,
                                      ousting prowlers from their canvas.

Gipsy child in richness feinting ragamala painting,
Scares stick-pecking sparrow atop a shaking chimney-pot,
For there are no peacocks prinking, preening, on their moss roofs.
No wild laughter ever clashes with their love of colour;
Each Meg dreams of her hemlock moor or tombstoned pass of trees,
And points her spelless fingers at each receding landmark,
                                      at her dark copse or berry bush,
                                      whilst polishing her cruel bangles
                                      and watching pale horizons fade.
The painted figures, sated by fulfillment of all whims,
Have features that merge in boredom, seeping to gipsy cheeks,
Framework they break before they too are vexed by permanence.