To a certain temperament
the situation might have been intriguing
boats against the current borne back
ceaselessly into the past.
My own was to telephone
immediately
for the police.
I don’t know which of us
hung up with a sharp click.

She realized at last what
she was doing with
the beads and chiffon of an evening dress
redolent of dying orchids.
Her artificial world
looked at through a single window
is successful.

He shivered as he found
what a grotesque thing a rose is
-and it occurred to me that there
was no difference so profound
as the difference between the sick and the well.
I thanked him for his hospitality-
I shouted across the lawn “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”
and he stood at his corruption concealing
his incorruptible dream.

And then came that disconcerting ride.
the whole library was liable to collapse
over the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
if one brick was removed.
Even Gatsby could happen so close
that he could hardly fail to grasp it.
And I know, he paid a high price
for living to long with
a single dream –isn’t that enough?
to compel my attention, my belief?
that’s the best thing in this world
-a beautiful little fool.
He did not know that his dream,
it was already behind him.