To A Teacher

Hurt once and for all into silence. A long pain ending without a song to prove it. Who could stand beside you so close to Eden, When you glinted in every eye the held-high razor, Shivering every ram and son? And now the silent loony bin Where the shadows live in the rafters like day-weary bats, Until the turning mind, a radar signal, lures them to exaggerate Mountain-size on the white stone wall your tiny limp. How can I leave you in such a house? Are there no more saints and wizards To praise their ways with pupils, No more evil to stun with the slap Of a wet red tongue? Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror And rest because he had finally come? Let me cry: "Help!" beside you, teacher. I have entered under this dark roof As fearlessly as an honoured son Enters his father's house.