Most Read... John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Kirsty Gunn re-arranges the world John McAuliffe reads Seamus Heaney's letters and translations Chris Price's 'Songs of Allegiance' David Herman on Aharon Appelfeld Victoria Moul on Christopher Childers compendious Greek and Latin Lyric Book Philip Terry again answers the question, 'What is Poetry'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 2, Volume 4 Number 2, January - March 1978.

The Last Caliph Robert Wells

1.
Quietly he watched the weighed eyes close
And the unhallowed presence intrude.
When the boy fell on the rug, he rose
In silence, his anger dispossessed

By kindness that took as its disguise
Ironic leave of each kingly mood;
Then stared at the scheme of paradise
In woven silk, and the limbs at rest.

2.
The masterful whirls seemed metal grills
Of a great window, at which he stood
For a breeze from the spare-featured hills
To sting his eyes like a hint of dust.

But its life was fixed like summer air
Till he assented with gratitude
To the grace that broke the pattern there
In sleep's unthinking perilous trust.

3.
Taking your challenge, one from their line
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image