Charles Simic

If only I had a dog, these crows congregating In my yard would not hear the end of it. If only the mailman would stop by my mailbox, I’d stand in the road reading a letter So all you who went by could envy me.

If only I had a car that ran well, I’d drive out to the beach one winter day And sit watching the waves Trying to hurt the big rocks Then scatter like mice...

If I had an ounce of good sense I’d stay put in the country, Rising early to hear the birds And see the sun come up, Taking long walks after lunch, Stopping only to talk to a crow, Or a dog who happens by.

The trouble is, I like to raise hell As much as I like sitting quietly Like a monk in his cell. A car careening with a screech, Carrying a party of revellers To another...

The Mirage

Like a cartoon of a lost traveller in the desert, Fallen on his knees and dying of thirst, Who sees a quiet pond in the distance Surrounded by tall palm trees, Once on a train approaching Chicago, I saw a snow-peaked mountain I knew perfectly well was not there, And yet I stared, gradually beginning To make out one high sunlit meadow, When the black smoke from the mills Hid the...

Backed myself into a dark corner one day, Found a boy there, Forgotten by teachers and classmates, His shoulders slumped, The hair on his head already grey. Friend, I said.

While you stood here staring at the wall, They shot a president, Some guy walked on the moon, Dolly, the girl we all loved, Took too many sleeping pills and died In a hotel room in Santa Monica.

Now and then I thought of...

Are you authorised to speak For these trees without leaves? Are you able to explain What the wind intends to do With a man’s shirt and a woman’s nightgown Left on the laundry line? What do you know about dark clouds? Ponds full of fallen leaves? Old model cars rusting in a driveway? Who gave you permission To look at the beer can in a ditch? The white cross...