Gieve Patel Poems

It takes much time to kill a tree,

Not a simple jab of the knife

Will do it. It has grown

Slowly consuming the earth,
...

The Saurashtra Express waits to start
Chained patiently to the platform,
Good pet, while I clamber in
To take my reserved window seat
...

It is startling to see how swiftly
A man may be sliced
From chin to prick,
...

ow soon I've acquired it all!
It would seem an age of hesitant gestures
Awaited only this sententious month.
...

There may be a very small comfort
In knowing yourself finally
Useless – when even grandchildren
Have grown beyond your love,
...

the old crone
slurping up
essence of chicken
soup
...

A case in point, the expert says;
A woman thrust glowing faggots
Where properly
Her son’s sparrow should nest.
...

Squirrels in Washington come
Galloping at you in fours, then brake
To halt a few feet away
And beg on hindquarters.
...

God or
something like that
shot
through each part of you, down
...

Our English host was gracious
We were soon at ease;
...