Bad stuff happens.
Some survive
but it’s a risky business
being alive.
Good stuff happens
too – though don’t
count on it lasting
long. It won’t.
Talleyrand
| Celui qui n'a pas vécu au dix-huitième siècle avant la Révolution ne connaît pas la douceur de vivre et ne peut imaginer ce qu'il peut y avoir de bonheur dans la vie. C'est le siècle qui a forgé toutes les armes victorieuses contre cet insaisissable adversaire qu'on appelle l'ennui. |
You’ll never know
that Golden Age
(if golden only for a few) –
the world will change
and change again
and all of us are dead, who knew.
Lazarus
And Lazarus, what did he say
when he was dragged back from the dead?
Or had he found that words don’t work
but silence says it all instead?
Five
I. Meter
He slipped a shilling in the meter
and found a century much neater.
II. Confession
Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to mutter:
when you’re away, I buy peanut butter.
III. A Question to Henry James
What’s so distinguished
about being extinguished?
IV. Vows
Commitment, love, eternal constancy –
all these you’ve pledged!
But not, thank God, to me.
V. Socratic
It’s dangerous to know yourself too well –
unless you want the deepest pit in Hell.
Tom Vaughan
If you have any thoughts about these poems, Tom Vaughan would like to hear them
