green & mellow day, bird in a pink tree
trills ding dong merrily on high, my chair
to a garden is not dangerous free
where white angora cat lurks in her lair
as when the song is gone torn from the air
its violent end in her innocent purr.

every man´s death diminisheth me*
the beautiful beast could not be crueler
than the kindness her kiss was meant to be
in the bitterness that we all must taste,
that none can escape, as nature´s decree
of our self love she´s guilty over graced
& yet what tryst with beauty & the beast,
when we must taste bitterness at the feast.

John Donne "For Whome The Bell Tolls"

copyright robin ouzman hislop 2004 all rights reserved