Flight of the Heart
Heart, my heart, what will you do?
There are five lame dogs and one
deaf-mute
All of them with demands on you.
I will build myself a copper tower
With four ways out and no way in
But mine the glory, mine the power.
And what if the tower should shake and
fall
With three sharp taps and one big
bang?
What would you do with yourself at
all?
I would go in the cellar and drink the
dark
With two quick sips and one long pull,
Drunk as a lord and gay as a lark.
But what when the cellar roof caves in
With one blue flash and nine old
bones?
How, my heart, will you save your
skin?
I will go back where I belong
With one foot first and both eyes
blind.
I will go back where I belong
In the fore-being of mankind.
- Louis MacNeice
