The Landscape of Love
“all things to rive the heart are here, and all are vain”
~ Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Broken Road, 147
All things to rive the heart are here, and all
Are vain. What trees there were have shed their bark
And leaves and blooms. It is the greatest Fall
Since Eden. What there used to be is stark
With loss now. Barrens spread across a plain
That once was fruit and ripeness. Rivers seep
To bog—and lakes to slough. The only sane
Thing is the winter with its wasteland deep
In snow and frost and ice. And this was true
Before you died, dear one, because above
Such things as husbanded affection you
Preferred cocaine’s white dustiness to love.
Bulgaria is beautiful compared
To this mirage where screaming woe is snared.