FOTHERINGAY, 1587

FOTHERINGAY, 1587

FOTHERINGAY, 1587

If I could cast out
                             the net of lacis
from the tower window
             gather up the frilled pinks
and columbines swimming
                                           upstream
to the juniper . . .

“It is all distant enough
to look embroidered.”

Pearl of water. Not
pearl, no
but how the hinge of oiled pebbles
opens
the river’s silver inlay to itself.

Look! There is the silly rabbit of life
hopping                                hopping

My voice is the unicorn
in a mirror: inaudible
castrato.

It is the damp
suggests our subjects:
sneiles
a sea moonke
a she Dolphin fische.
(Trust not overmuch
in appearance.)

The seven planets
in petit point
enriched with gold and silver.
The North Star

not completed.