Too Late

(for AD)

Bend the stormy wave

To catch the fallen rain,
hear the sudden sigh
To still the spoken word,
the bloodied sword to sheathe
Too late,
hold the silent sunrise
bend the stormy wave
but not, upon a child
to smile.

T.P. Wilkinson, Dr. rer. pol. writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is author of Unbecoming American: A War Memoir and also Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa. Read other articles by T.P..