Refuge

 

(for Clem)

 

I warble not

of

Grecian urns
 

nor lisp

of

nightingales

 

but wrap

my

odes

 
in wraiths

of

rue

 

afore which

all else

pales
 
*
 
But a

ghostly

wand’rer
 

spread thin

over

hills and dales
 

laid low

by

every calumny
 

and over

naught

prevails
 
*
 
Upon a tree

waits

tristesse

 
smiling wanly

down

 

vineyards

spread before

me wide
 

O far far

from town
 
*
 
Boudoir

of the mottled

grape
 

lone sanctum

of the

lorn
 

‘tis where

love

oft repairs
 

but not

where

she is born
 
*
 
Each day

a ravished

refugee
 

seeks

the

haven fey

 

succors the

stricken

sinking heart
 

in moors

of dank

dismay
 
*
 
She’s the

highest

mortal pass
 

the spirit

can

assay

 

splint’ring like

shattered

glass

 
when her

changelings

betray
 
*
 
So on a tree

sighs

tristesse
 

as I

lean to

lay me down

 

to dream of

love

in fevered sleep
 

O far

far

from town
 

 
[© R.Kanth 2023]

 
Professor Rajani Kanth, is Author of Coda (A Novel), A Day in the Life (Novel), and Expiations (Verse), and Farewell to Modernism (Political Economy Tract).