18
PARTISAN REVIEW
ON THE LONDON TRAIN
Despite the lonesome look
The man in the comer has,
Across the compartment,
Doubtless a dozen daze
Daily their eyes on him intent
And fancy him beside a brook,
Their arms with his laced,
Holding him fast.
While he for some virgin
Endures the endless night
Without rest, and would go
On bare knees, eyes shut tight,
To Tomsk or San Diego
If
she'd but let him in,
Bind his hurt knees, or say
'There is a doctor down the way'.
So it is and has been.
Summon an old lover's ghost,
He'll swear no man has lied
Who spoke of the painful and most
Embarrassing ordeal this side
Satisfaction. And the green
Difficulties later are '
More than Zeus could bear.
Austere in a sheltered place
The sea shell puzzles Destiny,
Who set us, man and beast
And bird, in extremity
To love and get a nest.
The frown on the great face
Is recompense but little for
Who suffer on the shore.
\
John Berryman
