For Two Players

Game for Two Players


Somewhere up there on the road
the road that leads to Rickmansworth,
or on the road that slants down
through a park that is always empty
except for the railway line
that also passes through it – there
where the Rock concerts are held,
near the stone fountains and the strange
concrete rectangles, where the nights
in Summer darken and lighten quickly,
you can play this game

with a tennis racquet and some old tennis
balls: one of you throws the ball
and the other hits it with the racquet
so high you can almost see it disappear –
you can watch it climbing in the sky,
you can see it growing so small,
and still see it until
you can’t see it anymore.


***

The Dream

Tonight I dream of changing my whole life -
I'll ditch my job, this home environment;
I'll change it all, and I'll impress my wife
By shouting in our first big argument
Since we became creatures of self-restraint,
Keeping soft angers and loud joys all pent -
And fears of being overheard? How quaint!
I'll roar like Tamburlaine, and when I'm spent

I'll watch her while her splendid fury grows
And sigh delightedly to see the red
In those fair cheeks so sweetly bellicose;
And then, as our great words subside, I'll bed

My prize - we'll tremble and laugh to feel
How our whole life has changed - and changed for real.