Sonnet V: Artifice

[kaberett]

I think one makes belief as one makes love:
think drystone walls of balanced masonry--
think of the hand that fits and shapes the glove--
think every stone cradled by gravity
secured in place by virtue of its weight
and no two are alike, but each is key.
I find I shy away from all the freight
attached to "anchor" as a term of praise--
but still each kindness settles into place:
a piecemeal ballast for my listing days,
or bearings set toward a kind of grace--
something to trust when cast adrift in haze.
So: tell me who I am, as seen by you.
Tell me a story; I will make it true.

Comments

Over fellsides to eternity

[hairyears]

I am a dry stone waller,
All day I dry stone wall.
Of all appalling callings
Dry-stone walling's worst of all.


(Pam Ayres)