Short Poems

Man, who by youth beguiled has trusted time and thriven —
Man, from whose tortured lips the lie to life was given —
Man, dumbly reconciled to suffer where he had striven —
Simpleton, accuser, and acceptor, each in turn
Mortality's enigma must enact and learn,
Till, in the presence of his one deliverer, death,
" Take not Thy holy Spirit from us, Lord," Man saith.

Freundschaft, Liebe, Stein der Weisen

Friendship, Love, the Philosopher's stone,
These three things are ranked alone;
These I sought from sun to sun,
And I found — not even one!

Schone, helle, goldne Sterne

Stars, with fair and golden ray,
Greet my loved one far away;
Say that I still wear the rue,
Sick at heart and pale — and true.

Die blauen Veilchen der Äugelein

The violets blue which are her eyes,
The crimson rose which her cheek outvies,
The lilies white which her hands disguise,
These blossom and glow; they never fade —
'Tis but the heart that has decayed.

2 ND L IEUI ., Cinque P ORTS B ATTALION ,

R OYAL S USSEX R EGIMENT

Strong, loyal-souled, full-hearted, blithely brave,
Only remembering love knows all he gave:
Beautiful be the stars above his grave.

After Jehudah Halevi
On the wind
in the cool of the evening
I send greetings to my friend.

I ask him only to remember the day
of our parting when we made a covenant
of love by an apple tree.

" Eventually we'll have to fight them. "

" Better now than later. "

" Let's get it over with. "

Hey, turkeys,
stop that cackling!

As soon as he heard
that her husband
was also a therapist
and a Jew like him
the cock
fell.

Man
in Perse
floats
on noble numbers,
too inflated
with hemispheres
to fart
like the rest of us.

How quickly the dandelions
come up
after a rain
I picked
them all
only yesterday.