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This poem is taken from PN Review 32, Volume 9 Number 6, July - August 1983.

Night Thoughts Michael Alexander

The lintel over the door renders me justice;
There is judgement in the alignment of the floorboards,
Mercy, perhaps, in the cracks between them.

Wisdom resides in the moon-stilled curtain-pillars,
Humility in the door-knob; I mark a certain tolerance
In that distempered surface.

Only by the radiance of my bar of light
Wedged under the door
...


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