Let me not lie here, mulling the dayβs anger,
Rehearsing, if there have been such, its tears;
Let no bitterness beckon, envy linger;
Save me from Circeβs, Medusaβs, cruel stares.
Let me slip to Sleepβs Kingdom unencumbered
By guilt I donβt need, by guards who would ask me
For visas Iβve lost; let me enter unhindered
To where Iβm at home: let no one suspect me.
May Kindness take charge then, to see that Iβm dipped
In Oblivionβs warm baths; and when I emerge
Let me wander Loveβs island, as one who is now
Released from Doubtβs dungeons, manumitted, at large.
Β
Dick Davis‘s book of poems, A Trick of Sunlight, will be published by Swallow/Ohio in 2006.