My Noiseless Entourage Poems

DESCRIPTION OF A LOST THING It never had a name, Nor do I remember how I found it. I carried it in my pocket Like a lost button Except it wasn't a button. Horror movies, All-night cafeterias, Dark barrooms And poolhalls, On rain-slicked streets. It led a quiet, unremarkable existence Like a shadow in a dream, An angel on a pin, And then it vanished. The years passed with their row Of nameless stations, Till somebody told me this is it! And fool that I was, I got off on an empty platform With no town in sight. SHADING EXERCISE This street could use a bit of shade And the same goes for that small boy Playing alone in the sun, A shadow to dart after him like a black kitten. His parents sit in a room with shades drawn. The stairs to the cellar Are hardly used any more Except for an occasional prowler. Like a troop of traveling actors dressed to play Hamlet, The evening shadows come. They spend their days hidden in the trees Outside the old courthouse. Now comes the hard part: What to do with the stones in the graveyard? The sun doesn't care for ambiguities, But I do. I open my door and let them in. Copyright 2005 by Charles Simic All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to the following address: Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.Simic, Charles is the author of 'My Noiseless Entourage Poems', published 2005 under ISBN 9780151012145 and ISBN 0151012148.