Between a toy and a crucifix Between a joke and a prayer Lies the Bird-catcher Who caught the peacock of the world; The poet the saint the gentleman and the wit Making these titles tolerable again. Between a cigarette and a cocktail Between a spite and a fear Round a bar Runs a little boy afraid of his whipped shadow Tender about his fear. Between the cocktail and the crucifix Between the prayer and the fear Lies the sword. Between the toy and the cigarette Between the spite and the joke Lies the imagination. Between the bird and the bar is the choice of consolation Tastes of the gentleman and the @3garcon de promenoir.@1 Between the tapette and the poet Between the prayer and the fear There is time for thought: Between the joy-boy and the gentleman Between the bed and the bar There is room to move about, Between the poet and the tapette Between the grace and the disgrace There is no choice. Between the sleeping squirrel in the wood And the night rat Lies the shadow, the identity, (Not because one knelt By the bed, And the hands Of the other were wet With tears shaken out of a young body Told not to be afraid to learn to play.) In the shadow the identity lies. One is the explanation: the Illumination Of the darkness Of the other. Because love is Because of what love is love is vision, in extremes (We who know what love is) And it is not possible to love Any people but these. |