Prose Poems of the Month.

“Not here, Not here. Somewhere far beyond...”.

Rabindranath Tagore. 1861 - 1941.

"He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven".
W.B. Yeats

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Anthony Hopkins reads it beautifully, in this scene from "84 Charing Cross Road..."..click here...

“The Minister for Exams”

When I was a child I sat an exam. The test was so simple
There was no way I could fail.

 Q1. Describe the taste of the moon
“It tastes like creation” I wrote,..”..”it has the flavour of sunlight”.

 Q2. What colour is love?
“Love is the colour of the water a man
lost in the desert finds”, I wrote..

 Q3. Why do snowflakes melt?
I wrote…”.. they melt because they fall
on the warm tongue of God”.

There were other questions. They were just as simple.

I described the grief of Adam when he was expelled from Eden.
I wrote down the weight of an elephant’s dream.

Yet today, many years later
For my living I sweep the street
…and clean out the toilets of the fat hotels

Why?     Because constantly I failed my exams. 

Why?     Well…let me set a test..

Q1. How large is a child’s imagination..?
Q2. How shallow is the soul of the Minister for Exams…..?

Click here for...Brian Patten