Seen and heard

I saw moonlight bend

a tender leaf,

heard an ancient monument

murmur a prayer,

I breathed colours

footnoted in history books,

and noticed

in my passing

the play of the heroic with the vile,

the great heartedness that made a nation

and the carelessness

that makes for divorce.

I saw the hands of the clock move

making notes of this and that

without pausing to worship

things unimaginable

that somehow were true,

I saw the claws of time sprint

towards the sad rendezvous:

the end of time.

[From the collection 'Some texts are made of leaves,' shortlisted for the Gratiaen Award 2011]

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