To Innesfree

When Yeats suggested go

to one Lake Isle

in wind or snow and rain or peace or hail

- and plant nine bean-rows;

he hinted that to hear,

listen – become –

is the real game we play, or else be dumb

to a swelling of hearts and the sea.

Friendship

In a desert

I turned into a beast

parading round

and, with heart and hands

honest, I ate

up sweet friendship

to find an answer

more acceptable

(not so bitter)

than one heart’s one truth.