No.21

IN EXTREMIS
  John Updike 1932-2009
 

I saw my toes the other day.
I hadn't looked at them for months.
Indeed, they might have passed away.
And yet they were my best friends once.
When I was small, I knew them well.
I counted on them up to ten
And put them in my mouth to tell
The larger from the lesser. Then
I loved them better than my ears,
My elbows, adenoids, and heart.
But with the swelling of the years
We drifted, toes and I, apart.
Now, gnarled and pale, each said, “j'accuse!”
I hid them quickly in my shoes.

-o0o-

YOUNG AND OLD 
Charles Kingsley 1819-75

When all the world is young, lad,

  And all the trees are green,
And every goose a swan, lad,
  And every lass a queen,
Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
  And round the world away;
Young blood must have its course, lad,
  And every dog his day.

When all the world is old, lad,
  And all the trees are brown;
And all the sport is stale, lad,
  And all the wheels run down,
Creep home, and take your place there,
  The spent and maimed among:
God grant you find one face there
  You loved when all was young.

-o0o-

TWO HUNTERS
Anon

There were but two beneath the sky -
The thing I came to kill, and I.
I, under covert, quietly
Watched him sense eternity
From quivering brush to pointed nose
My gun to shoulder level rose.
And then I felt (I could not see)
Far off a hunter watching me.
I slowly put my rifle by,
For there were two who had to die -
The thing I wished to kill, and I.

-o0o-

LILI MARLENE
English words by Tommie Connor

Underneath the lantern by the barrack gate
Darling I remember the way you used to wait,
Twas there that you whispered tenderly
That you loved me,
You'd always be
My Lili of the lamplight,
My own Lili Marlene.

Time would come for roll call,
Time for us to part,
Darling I'd caress you and press you to my heart,
And there 'neath that far off lantern light
I'd hold you tight,
We'd kiss good-night,
My Lili of the lamplight,
My own Lili Marlene

.
Orders came for sailing somewhere over there,
All confined to barracks was more than I could bear,
I knew you were waiting in the street,
I heard your feet,
But could not meet
My Lili of the lamplight,
My own Lili Marlene.

Resting in a billet just behind the line,
Even tho' we're parted your lips are close to mine,
You wait where that lantern softly gleams,
Your sweet face seems to haunt my dreams,
My Lili of the lamplight,
My own Lili Marlene.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-