THE DAINTY MONSTERS
Michael
Ondaatje
back next
|
The Diverse Causes
.....for than all erbys and treys renewyth
a man
.....and woman, and in lyke wyse lovers callyth
to
.....their mynde olde jantylnes and olde servyse,
.....and many kynde dedes that was forgotyn
by
.....neclygence
Three clouds and a tree
reflect themselves on a toaster.
The kitchen window hangs scarred,
shattered by winter hunters.
We are in a cell of civilised magic.
Stravinsky roars at breakfast,
our milk is powdered.
Outside, a May god
moves his paws to alter wind
to scatter shadows of tree and cloud.
The minute birds walk confident
jostling the cold grass.
The world not yet of men.
We clean buckets of their sand
to fetch water in the morning,
reach for winter cobwebs,
sweep up moths who have forgotten to waken.
When the children sleep, angled
behind their bottles, you can hear mice prowl.
I turn a page
careful not to break the rhythms
of your sleeping head on my hip,
watch the moving under your eyelid
that turns like fire,
and we have love and the god outside
until ice starts to limp
in brown hidden waterfalls,
or my daughter burns the lake
by reflecting her red shoes in it.
|
