90

Young Juan wandered by the glassy brooks

Thinking unutterable things. He threw

Himself at length within the leafy nooks

Where the wild branch of the cork forest grew.

There poets find materials for their books,

And every now and then we read them through,

So that their plan and prosody are eligible,

Unless like Wordsworth they prove unintelligible.

Image and audio extract © Peter Gallagher, 2012