‘Let’s leave more space for intuition
and opt for the decisions of a sparrow!
We’ll never know in any case
if we’ve done right or wrong
until much later -
perhaps not even then.
‘There’s nothing in the laws of government
that say we must we seek out
the games and hurley‑burley
of the bigger, bully‑boys.
‘We could for example, take a lesson
from the snake and slough the skin
that serves only transient function;
emulate the Skylark’s scorn for rigid plans
and the hedgehog’s love of introspection.
There’s nothing in his passion
for the night that calls for intellectual analysis.
The Dunnock knows this just as well!
‘Go weigh the wisdom of the newt
who invariably consumes the skins
he sheds, for nothing should be wasted.
‘Locate the turret in the temple of the self
from which we can maintain a watch
on random happenings,
wayside ferretings
and sniffing out the night.
‘There’s one direction we’ve consistently
neglected; to hold our consciousness
to mindless things.
We will not submit that life unfolds
like a wayward dream
when time and time again
the chalice brims with the sudden
silver elixir of grace.
Soho. ‘84/’09.
One of the many remarkable turret-like rock-forms in Goreme,Turkey.
