Behind Big Gates

His white head droops
like a broken bloom
when he remembers what he said

then : when

he played the game to gain
the grace to play the same
as other players played

and he struggled to smile
with a hawk’s fierce face
and sneering winds all around him

...and one dizzy night he sneered
The sky shits pigeons!
for a laugh with the boys in the club

then : when

to curse the rest
was the grace of his class
and the rising tide to ride

laughing forever beyond
some broken old bloom
left on the lawn of a mansion



.