! City Of The Mindful Heart. For Kv. Poem by Michael Shepherd

The inhabitants are rightly proud –
let’s take the guided tour…

they show you first (they’ve never been inside,
themselves.. though they know someone who has…)
the Palace, it’s still called,
the seat of government… throughout
its sometimes turbulent, sometimes complacent rule,
it’s stood for that central place where golden hearts
seek unity in national multiplicity;
and seek to care for multiplicity…

not far away, that great domed building,
it’s been temple, church, mosque in its time,
been desecrated, restored, so many times;
and truth to tell, while it’s the symbol
of the nation, there are many more
who are proud of it, than have entered it…
here too, a quiet place to find
the unity in multiplicity…

what will they show you next? Depends…
The lively Central Market, vivid in that multiplicity?
The great Museum and Library, where
The nation’s treasures (and some plunder
from the glory years of empires won and lost)
gleam like golden giants to our pygmy eyes?
Or perhaps the huge, round, stone Arena
where in former years, men fought to death
(some say it’s coming back..): celebrated
battles won; fireworks, clowns and circuses –
whatever brought the greatest crowds;
here – appalled, delighted, bored - you’ll bring
the children anyway – you’ll see what ‘popular’
means, this very day…

Traffic regulations, ever tighter, now control your tour;
a glimpse of lakes and parks perhaps;
city dwellers recovering their humanity;
a place to be themselves, and know it.

Unless you ask – guidebook carefully perused
before your trip – they’ll miss out that quiet
‘residential area’ full of blue plaques (no time to read) ,
where peacefully, behind closed doors,
individuals adventure far into the mind;
fantasise; invent; look deep into the heart;
their passports are well stamped; and yet
there are no frontiers here.

So now, you’ve done the guided tour;
seen everything – and yet seen nothing;
you’re a tourist in a foreign city; and
this is a working city; proud of its past,
shaping its future, it exists, and always has,
only in the present; but stay awhile,
you’ll find it irresistible..

This is the city of the mind;
this is the place of poetry; it’s all around;
Kenneth, you’ve just written
a comprehensive guidebook to this place;
called it ‘On the Nature of Poetry’;
an art, you say, which has for 4000 years,
‘distilled the spoken thoughts of mankind’;
a finely-carved new monument,
set by the lake, the park;
the distant view of snowy mountain;
how thoughtful to include a fountain;
how appropriate. (The guided tour
sets out from Place de Métaphore..)


(Kenneth Verity, Shepheard-Walwyn, £25)