We cannot go with you this time
All-consuming night
has swallowed the solemn moon

So hightide and wave retire
and the piano charms with regret
in the reed beds

and mealie fields
where the window birds mourn
under an overcast sky

*

Now we must say manana
left behind on the rocky shore
to follow our own callings

Melody and harmony breeding
tears as we return
to your meditations and poems

without you
lost in the song of the sea
where the starless chords stretch
and shrink time

*

Still boy becomes man and man dust
departing the cares
of this world with all its joy shapes
doldrums and dreams

__________________________________________________________________

Editor’s note: Milner Place was an English writer most well known for his poetry. 25 January 1930-28 May 2020.