MINEHEAD
A tall man in a black suit stops and spies
A blackbird, for a heartbeat, on the roof
Of the canteen, while awestruck passing eyes
Dilate and wonder “Is he still aloof
Among us chalet-sharing, cool and calm
Like-minded twitchers, does he stand so far
Above us that we’d really do such harm
By sidling up and whispering “There you are!”?”
A tall man in a black suit struts and stalks
The stage they gaze on, he is clearly gone
From thoughts of sharing space and friendly talks
With any blackbird given to a song,
a song that’s now in motion, while those birds
Are speaking new and unexpected words.
SAN GIMIGNANO
One afternoon, a man asked you to dance
Downhill to him in San Gimignano.
The summer froze, thus hind’ring his advance.
You took advantage of the chance to throw
A shape in swift escape, a graceful rush
To cover, while confused onlookers winced
With kinship, causing you to shyly blush
With tender shame for your misguided prince.
The towers fell one morning all at once
And with no fanfare, leaving that hill bare
And chastened, now bereft of a response
To polyglot lotharios on a dare.
You ran rings, that I remember, you ran rings –
It’s you, it’s you, the echoing hillside sings.
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