The Letter
In danger of becoming indifferent,
I no longer want to write angry letters
To god, suggesting improvements,
With withering tiredness, deflated:
A hungry man watches the plate pass his table,
Someone in a new shirt over-hears
What friends really think, knowing that the worst things
Happen on Wednesdays, knowing that tragedy
Smells of onions, knowing that honesty does not
Help. I have watched enough television
To know there is no excuse.
We could all be better. But there are the other things:
The swinging red curtains of love,
The mountains that scare, the river consoles,
The programmes, the breakfast of ages,
The clean celebration, the soft reality
That we are here to look after things like candles
And dishes and floors, without us there would be nothing
In alphabetical order, there would be no names,
No kitchens, no fan clubs, or vapour trails.
In danger of becoming incoherent
I no longer want to write angry letters
To god. It has gone past that now.
We are no longing on speaking terms.
I listen to the summer sound of
Insects and a radio. At six the sunlight is a diagonal stripe
Across the valley. I have decided to live
In the mountains for the rest of my life.
Page(s) 48
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