POEMS
John Hollander
DEPARTURE: A VIEW OUT THE WINDOW
No jewel, no beetle like a clump
Of fire, still glitters as you go
Down our old street where taxis flow,
Buses hiss, manhole-covers bump.
No pearl of cloudy promise clings
To this departure, incomplete
And awkward in the roaring street,
Nothing of youthful windwardings.
A farewell on a coastwise trip
Rejoining in some warmer port?
Or sailing of another sort
In
a great unreturning ship.
Squealing brakes are the sea-gull's cry,
Dull
pigeon-gray must do for white,
And now, your steamer, out of sight
Only lends texture to the sky.
AN OLD STORY IS RETOLD
Great, dark wings, passing my roof over
Confound, rather than reassure:
What am I left with to endure?
What love will forty years recover?
The primal steps of freedom pound
Across the dry floor of the deep
In
annual echo now, the sleep
Of exile cushioning the sound;
I
~
