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Winter Thoughts
| Article
# : |
14663 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1988 |
799 Words |
| Author
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Vernon Scannell and Rudolph Schirmer
Vernon Scannell is a poet and novelist whose latest work is
Argument of Kings: An Autobiography (Robson Books: United
Kingdom, 1988). Rudolph Schirmer is a composer and poet. His
most recent work is a volume of poetry, Letter to Fair Souls. |
Perimeter Guard
His second two-hour duty: the wind
Is now stropped to such
Fine and steely sharpness that
It might slice off a shriveled lobe or finger.
The stars are brilliant chippings of frozen flint,
Beautiful, but quite indifferent
To sublunar hurt.
His stunned toes are welded together;
He is club-footed
By the weather.
The only
Nostrum for such misery and loneliness
Is found in fantasies of somewhere other,
A feminine place, not erotic
But warm, motherly.
Lavender-scented pillow and sheets;
No gruff blankets there;
Soft wool, a cool counterpane
Of candlewick that soothed an infant fever;
Sweet, unsnoring dark.
He shuts his eyes against
The stars' impersonal derision
And the wind's malice.
Then dream and the silence are broken
By a sound beyond
The wire and his eyes are filled
With star-sparks like frozen tears; unsure he calls
'Halt! Who goes there?'
No one answers. The glitter
Melts from his eyes; then he hears the wind
Whisper: 'Foe!...Foe!...Foe!...'
Vernon Scannell
Dylan Thomas
...
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