Jeremy Hilton, a new poem

transfigured



lovers wreathed like mists
in a star-sharp night
speak of a lost togetherness
amid the surfeit of separation
the strobes of chaos thrown
from tower-blocks like long ghost shadows
in these last human years
of homeless doorways and diesel air

they will shine beyond
the world they vanish from
until the night cries back
for want of their warmth and whispers

and once they've flown
past all the orbits of satellites and moons
we will find they left behind them
a dance of fireflies over the frosted town


     (after Arnold Schoenberg and Niall Wilson)





---Jeremy Hilton, one of Britian's most senior poets, has published 12 collections of poetry, and for over 15 years he edited and published the journal FIRE, some issues of which are online @www.poetrymagazines.org.uk.