Under Sweet Water Drowned

Who hath forgotten aught they may be
and the master, do not say to us that he

will be acquainted with the worst.
Hither and thither as if in possession

the fisherman stands in the hall. The muscles
in his calf were clad in sinew, not his brain.

At night like numbered minions
through all the hall he passed and hither

thither, called on us. We two, who had toiled,
who had then seen the garden gate open

to one and now closed to the rest.

Copyright © 2003 Katy Lederer All rights reserved
from The Canary
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission