 To men of the right (1997)
(especially
for Roger Douglas)
Part 2
This
is a thin city,
it
must have seemed
so
simple to destroy,
rip
out the past
beat
down all sense
of
common cause, good will
and
in their place
with unconcealed contempt
build
towers of nothing
public
places where
the
sun will never shine
streets
for walking dead
who’ve
nowhere else to go.
It
seemed so easy
But,
being stone, you
Hard-eyed
men know nothing
Cannot
understand that
When
you’re unlamented dust
The
beauty of the world
Lives
on in gleams of
Accidental
grace, the
Gauzy
southern light
On
hills, tides of people
Dazed
with hope, alive,
Who’re
setting all your
Stony
streets on fire.
For my
daughters
My
tall girls
wild
with youth
and
tender,
your
shining
mirthful
eyes
the
sweetness
of
your growing.
you
were my babies
once,
soft animals
imprinted
in my blood
blind
with love
we
smelt each others
skin,
you butted
at my
breasts and
drowned
in milk
my
heart-beats
soothed
your drunken
baby
sleep.
now
you’re grown
with
women’s bodies
dreams
and lovers
of
your own. I
feel
it still
this
heart’s connection
buried
deep, this
joyous
ache, this
constant
state
of
helpless love.
Housework
This
work I’ve done for years
As
ordinary as bread, or air-
Fresh
washing folded, put away
Sink
scrubbed, the dishes rinsed
Rooms
swept and aired, I do it
In a
dream, like breathing
Mind
elsewhere, a daily round.
This
peaceful labour unremarked
This
calm routine I’ve come to see
Is
like a river running clear
It’s
washed me clean, kept me true
Held
me to the lasting world.
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