The Poem of Arrival

The welcome
so carefully planned

by the entire town-council and representatives
of local trades and industries (glass-work,
bead-work, and coal, gold and bronze -
those figurines in doubtful taste offered to all new-
comers)

    had failed. Smiles faded
and jowls drooped lower than the flowers wilting
in the hands of the prettiest children of both sexes
carefully schooled in their lyrical greetings:

'O Prince in need of our affection!'
they cried, 'Green frond
of our longing! Child of happiness, more
ardently desired than the full moon
on a summer night, or a soup of celery and lentils
...