TWO POEMS
386
ALONZO TO FERDINAND
Dear Son, when the warm multitudes cry
Ascend your throne majestically,
But keep in mind the waters where fish
See sceptres descending with no wish
To touch them; sit regal and erect
But imagine the sands where a crown
Has the status of a broken-down
Sofa or mutilated statue:
Remember as bells and cannon boom
The cold deep that does nOll: envy you,
The sunburnt superficial kingdom
Where a king is an object.
Expect no help from others, for who
Talk sense to princes or refer to
The scorpion in official speeches
As they unveil some granite Progress
Leading a child and holding a bunch
of lilies? In their Royal Zoos the
Shark and octopus are tactfully
Omitted; synchronized clocks march on
Within their powers: outside remain
The ocean flats where no subscription
Concerts are given, the desert plain
Where there is nothing for lunch.
Only your darkness can tell you what
A prince's ornate mirror dare not,
Which you should fear more, the sea in which
A tyrant sinks entangled in rich
Robes while a mistress turns a white back
Upon his splutter, or the desert
Where an emperor stands in his shirt
