William Oxley
A Fig-leaf for the Millennium
1)
What we’ve been through
only we can best say,
how some tree in Israel
waved its greenwind arms for us
while the sky gave its blue-forever smile.
The politics we approve,
a black and white photo of hope
or being easy about who’s in power:
so reach up to the tree, friends,
hand us down more fruit
and let it be figs for everyone.
We’re happy to share if we don’t lose out!
2)
The Exe estuary in a bland wind today,
us out walking, all the time in the world,
shells emptying into mud
to feed sharpshooter herons;
lone boats that cut and chop the vision,
thinking of poems, the beautiful shards of time.
Slowly, so slowly, like a market mirage
the Millennium comes into view,
and the myth-makers gather on shore
to celebrate a cheapened Christ.
But as the ark of history wimples in on the tide
and two thousand years roll sordidly by,
some would not celebrate but hide,
finding new use for the fig-leaf.
Page(s) 35
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