Memories

Memories,
How they cling!

Like deep yellow pollen,
Fresh from the flower -
Onto a butterfly's wing.

Like fish on a fisherman's hook,
Like the yellow of an old, old book -
Like a child's finger round its mother's,
Like plastic, and molten girders.

Happy, gay memories,
Sad, hurt memories,
Foolish first crushes,
Deep-red blushes,
And memories of the day my father died!

They make you weep, they make you laugh,
Warm your heart, and freeze your heart!

Yet curious things are memories,
Keep them close, such memories,
'Cause when someone is gone forever -
All that's left... are memories.

Lines Composed in an Examination Hall

Cold Greenland, a winter by the sea,
The scarce vegetation frozen, darkness enveloping me.
Five cold diggers, out on a hunting spree -
All communications broken, huddled, cursing be!

Into the biting cold they'd come
To dig up Atlantis, maybe?
And now they are dying one by one -
Mercy! God Almighty!

Bombastic words and dazzling dreams,
How silly now they seem to me -
All the rest've been cold for long
Dark night's fallen round me.

And all is calm as I wait to be
Dead by the cold, dark sea!