There was a girl.

Then she became a man.

Wowie, he thought.

no ghyan-ghyan.

parenthesis

I saw you yesterday-

It was a dream, a mad dream, a bad dream.

But darling, I couldn't call it a sad dream-

They who know Augustine

And the pain of memory

and the burden of sin.

I saw you yesterday

I knew you yesterday-

I virtually knew you.

Nobody reads this except you.

Nobody needs me except you.

Yesterday you wiped my sweat,

Blood and tears and yet...

Nobody heeds me except you.

You know that memory is painful

So what if recollection is gainful?

Try to forget the sorrow

Of an unending tomorrow-

(Nobody, but you.)

And the rebellious smile

And treacherous guile

Of a simulacram of the real pain

Is any pain ideal pain?

This may take a while.

(Nobody, but you.)

Not Waving but Drowning

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

-Stevie Smith.