The eternal spirits pass us by <br />On their shooting pathways through the sky <br />From the starting-point of time <br />Since the moment they were born <br />On occasion they take earthly form <br />Appear as if before our eyes <br /> <br />Nothing less than terrified <br />Lives weighted by tablets of time <br />When the electric calender starts <br />We cover up the smallest signs <br />Of darkness pounding in our hearts <br /> <br />Now if I had gone to Liverpool <br />Or stayed awhile in Newcastle <br />And there had practised poetry <br />Every day with ink and pen <br />Crouched in broken tenements <br />Asleep beside the railway stations <br /> <br />There might be doves atop Big Ben <br />These energies might now be clean <br />I might be in the slightest wise <br />Prepared to meet these apparitions<br /><br />Frank Bana<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/apparitions-5/
