Two Poems

MAINTENANT

for Samuel Menashe

Hand
holding on to this
instant metamorphosis,
the syllables maintain
against the lapse
of time that they remain
here, where all else escapes


A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

When the old servant reveals she is the mother
     Of the young count whose elder brother
Has betrayed him, the heroine, disguised
     As the Duke's own equerry, sings Or
Che sone, pale from the wound she has received
     In the first act. The entire court
Realize what has in fact occurred and wordlessly
...