I. <br /> <br />I gave you back my claim on the mining town <br />and the rich vein we once worked, <br />the tumble down <br />from a sluice box that irked <br /> <br />you so much, the narrow gauge <br />that opened up to one and all <br />when it ran out at the landing stage <br />beyond the falls. <br /> <br />I gave you back oak ties, <br />bully flitches, the hand-hewn crossbeams <br />from which hung hardtack <br /> <br />in a burlap bag that, I'd surmise, <br />had burst its seams <br />the last night we lay by the old spur track. <br /> <br />II. <br /> <br />You gave me back your frown <br />and the most recent responsibility you'd shirked <br />along with something of your renown <br />for having jumped from a cage just before it jerked <br /> <br />to a standstill, your wild rampage <br />shot through with silver falderals, <br />the speed of that falling cage <br />and the staidness of our canyon walls. <br /> <br />You gave me back lake skies, <br />pulley glitches, gully pitches, the reflected gleams <br />of two tin plates and mugs in the shack, <br /> <br />the echoes of love sighs <br />and love screams <br />our canyon walls had already given back.<br /><br />Paul Muldoon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/extraordinary-rendition/
