Andrew Verster
Further images
Hampstead
like a bird with a broken wing
that had toiled on the wind for many years
like a bird unable to endure any longer
the tempest and storm
the evening falls
on the green grass
three thousand angels had danced all day long
naked as steel
the pale evening falls
the three thousand angels
gather their wings and become:
a dog
abandoned
that barks
alone
and searches for its master
or the Second Coming
or a bone
now I long for a little quiet
all I want is a small shack on a hill
or near the seashore
all I want in front of my window is a sheet washed in blueing
spread out like the sea
all I want in my vase
is a carnation, even an artificial one
red paper wound on wire
so that the wind
can control it easily and
play with it any way it wants to
the evening would fall
the flocks would descend with echoes to their fold
like a very simple and happy thought
and I would lie down to sleep
because I would not even have
a candle to light
or light
to read