I struggle to tell you
in the silence between thoughts
what you have done for me
Beatrice saw Dante
three steps away
and hardly noticed
the gauche young man
who stepped among the litter
of her girlfriends' smiles
Nora saw Joyce
(I'm descending now)
peer through his glasses
she stroked the brow
that broke a thousand ships
and kissed the feet
that squelched
the Liffey mud
a trick of light
made litter and mud
roses to these Olympians
I recognise their gain
and from my dull breviary
recite again
on impulse all the lines
you wrote
soft in my flesh and
gentle in my mind
your love sees no horizon
there's no land beneath my sky
your fingers have not touched
no sea your breath
has not stirred over
no mouth of mine you have not kissed
you see how I try to explain
the meaning of this list
It's me that you sustain