VARIATIONS
For John Lehmann

According to a TLS review
Franck 'led an uneventful life . . . was not . . .
Prolific'. Might have been describing me.

The window frames a leggy yellow rose.
I hurry out to rescue drowning bees.
The bedside notebook yields its gibberish.

Franck: many boring bars; a schmaltzy tune;
Arguably, wit and singularity
Confined to the Variations symphoniques.

Not bad to be remembered even thus.
Each decade trendy geniuses arise;
Non-geniuses nearer to oblivion.

Ancients on benches, crumbling bread for birds -
It's they I should be with! Don't mind the young
...