Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Persephone by Michael Longley

 Perspehone by Michael Longley

I see as through a skylight in my brain
The mowl strew its buildings in the rain,

The swallows turn above their broken homes
And all my acres in delirium.

Straitjacketed by cold and numbskulled
Now sleep the well adjusted and the skilled-

The bat folds its wings like a winter leaf,
The squirrel in its hollow holds aloof.

The weasel and ferret, the stoat and fox
Move hand in glove across the equinox.

I can tell how softly their footsteps go-
Their footsteps borrow silence from snow.