I, too regret the very day <br />they came, unbidden <br />with sound and lights <br />the fright of well-fed pets <br />in what is known simply <br />as Chuck'nut Drive. <br /> <br />It's where the cream retire, <br />payback, now called reward <br />for years of bumbling toil, <br />the art of quackery itself, <br />known to a few, of privilege <br />as watching out for God, <br />robbing apothecary bins <br />and practicing sly dyskinesia <br />to wealthy clowns and fools, <br />and call it esperance, <br />wearing the mask of Galilee. <br /> <br />I had, so many nights ago, <br />through journeys for the rich <br />to promised lands and seas, <br />lost what I found that vulgar day <br />when they placed cap and gown <br />upon a disbelieving lad. <br /> <br />Unlike the gray valise in Rome, <br />you never did return to me, <br />though well insured, it was not you; <br />deceived they were, the same as I. <br /> <br />I knew that Jack would be a mighty thorn <br />inside your baggy eyes, I knew. <br />Yet something deep inside, I swear <br />was well aware and kind for all these years, <br />it was my guide in a heroic quest, <br />an exercise in holy loyalty to you, <br />to find you there, inside the sturdy wall, <br />the hourglass, where shade was dark <br />supplied by paper squared in symmetry, <br />designed by Daniels' Jack, the gentleman <br />and tasted for the cream, now obsolete. <br /> <br />I never found you, love of younger days, <br />inside that sanctuary of silent myths, <br />though no one can accuse me of adultery, <br />I longed for you, and once I tasted you, <br />only to lose the scent when all was clear <br />as my command was a resumption of the curse. <br /> <br />Endless and lonely days, extended heavily, <br />without much fruitful thought into those nights, <br />when lights of one or two tall ships with sails, <br />reflected from the cliffs of Chuck'nut Bay.<br /><br />Herbert Nehrlich<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/chuck-nut-drive/
