Afternoon Dream

There is a swift river in flood;
I am on the wet bank

trying to tether a heavy raft
when the phone rings somewhere else.

'All that worry, there's no need for that.'
Your voice comes back to me where I am

with a request for pinenuts, eggplant, capers
and the doctor's reassuring diagnosis. Soon

the raft will break up on the rapids;
I can no longer picture its cargo.

page 146

Pastorale

Into each life some rain must fall
but April was the wettest on record.

There's something to be said, they say,
for looking on the bright side

but the stock get carried away
by seasonal fluctuations,

the river wants to cover the field.
I've a good mind to get out

the dusty tuba father blew,
to play it by ear till the cows come home.

House and Garden

I can never remember
the names of the flowers

but Sylvia is in her
element here—the garden

after rain giving back
the house the shape it had.

Alonsoa, polyanthus ...
each a bright coin

to spend in conversation.
The way they roll off the tongue.