Poetry and poësie

Graphic by De Waal Venter

One-night stand

Last night
had been waiting
for several billion years
for its turn.

It was quite eventful;
some of the dreams were of high quality:
the one in which the conductor
in the passenger steam train,
who was me, occasionally,
helped the old man
to keep the whale inside
the brown paper bag;
a whale is large, of course, and wet;
its tail hung out of the window.

The conductor – he wasn’t me then –
but Herbert Von Karajan,
started conducting the symphony orchestra
running along outside –
they played “Pictures at an Exhibition”.

I was lightly surprised
that the saxes were not out of breath,
but soon forgot that as the night
shook my hand regretfully,
looking over its shoulder
as the sun came bustling in.
It had its turn
and will never return