The Leeds Review - Issue #1Where visionaries have sat with pen in hand and paper
And children have positioned their visions of the future
And fate has carved a path not so becoming of their creator
Is where butchers stand bold and custom their designs
In age-old tradition of their mentors.
A level stand made from oak or pine
From granite-stone or lime is where spinners sit
Spinning yarn in apple-orchards and weave
Their patterns and their intentions, and Heracles heaves
His day's toil to be seen.
A smouldering mahogany desk on polished mountains
Sleeps as his master's pile swells beneath iron and brimstone
As seas of perspiration and fountains of ink
Sink beneath a layer of red and toner
As the master in his base looks on
Glancing at sepia and memories.
Where old women sit and stamp forms declaring dead ones dead
Stands a level plane made from oak or from lime-stone
Where important men have sat and written declarations
And pens have failed in their intentions
And people have long since left, and others still grieve
Of where chairs have cracked, as burning coffee scalded papers.
Tom Brand Info