Stoic Precepts

‘Desire what you already have’.

I wish to see again the silver cat
that pads about my garden, spying all ways,
staring, stalking, chasing a blowing leaf.

His name is Max, and he hallucinates.
He sees fat blackbirds land on fence-posts,
throws himself at them.

I wish for the knack of conjuring
this cat into a poem. I wish

for as much poetic skill
as I already have, the same
tomorrow as today.

‘Make a trial of your apathy’.

I walk the mall from end to end,
recite some poems in my head;
view my own gallery, Picasso’s
Nude with Cat, the Garden of Delights. I am
among the almond trees, or by the Rhine,

and I do not wish.