This poem is taken from PN Review 42, Volume 11 Number 4, March - April 1985.
Three PoemsSLEEPERS
They are put into the world - these sleepers -
ultimately to subvert or to disturb . . .
Observe their posture, lifted on to one hip,
consciously composed with an onlooker in mind . . .
The Douanier's black gypsy is lying thus,
the Sleeping Beauty, or woman I have dreamt -
calm at her rest in a headland's green hollow,
interrupted knitting laid neatly on her breast.
Their stillness centres them, the world regroups around,
a prince past the horizon hears a silence call,
the lion's breath is caught in unearthly gypsy hair,
I search for the woman's dream having dreamt her sleeping.
THE CAT AND GIRLS OF BALTHUS
'La patience', 1954-5
The same pale leg extended, cat and girl;
...
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