NOW I SHALL BE SILENT

                                                        Jan 5, 1997

        Now I shall be silent
        For what more is there for me to say?
        The garden gate is closed against me
        And I am turned away.
        For I have knocked upon it
        And it yields not to me,
        No, not so much as one small inch.
        It opens not at all.
        And now
        It appears
        That it shall be fully locked.
        All my hopes
        Shall have been in vain.
        The sun has set
        And the winter wind blows;
        And once again
        My island is cold.
        The Rivers that divided us,
        But flowed gently,
        Are now torrential flood waters
        That most sternly
        Forbid passage to us at all.
        Those same Rivers
        Are a division
        That has become
        An unbreechable span,
        And we are
        Complete in our separation.
        My mouth is dumb and quiet.
        Now I shall be silent
        For what more is there for me to say?