Mice in Halo

two poems

MICE IN HALO

Biddies in the peculiar house

Tiptoe slowly down the hall,

And wrinkles in the mirrors close

Like pleats upon the celibate:

Farewell, farewell,

Love sleeps beside the chamberpot.

The attic spreads on every floor,

Hanging webs from face to face.

Cluttered with knobs and locks, each door

Swings hardly on a narrow room:

Alas, alas,

The whatnots gather wintertime.

But under woodwork, born in night,

The hooded mice chew up the folly,

Strutting like bawdybelles in heat,

Singing through lath and plasterboard:

O holy, holy,

The walls are sprouting angelward.