To A Teacher

[Dedicated to A. M. Klein (1909-1972)] Hurt once and for all into silence. A long pain ending without a song to prove it. Who could stand beside you so close to Eden, When you glinted in every eye the held-high razor, shivering every ram and son? And now the silent loony bin, where The shadows live in the rafters like Day-weary bats, Until the turning mind, a radar signal, lures them to exaggerate Mountain-size on the white stone wall Your tiny limp. How can I leave you in such a house? Are there no more saints and wizards to praise their ways with pupils, No more evil to stun with the slap of a wet red tongue? Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror and rest because he had finally come? Let me cry Help beside you, Teacher. I have entered under this dark roof As fearlessly as an honoured son Enters his father's house.