Poems for Family and Friends 39
Margaret: Three Movements, cont.
A fractured-classics schoolyard show
foretelling that it all will end
beneath a rocking plywood sea.
Ah, Margaret, Puck, what can I say?
I know you know that dreams like these
are not just idle playfulness: just as I know
the love you bring is not a light, capricious one.
For in this ruthless merchant's world, where dreams
are often mortgaged off, you heap rare treasure on my floor.
Like ancient Baghdad's fabled thief, you help me steal
from dark, from day. You keep foreclosure from my door.
You keep my creditors at bay.
III
So journeys start, so life begins: Margaret, Margie, daughter, friend, more daughter than I ever dreamed,
more friend than I had ever sought,
in my most fond imaginings
you are embarked now, far at sea,
uncertain of your destiny,
but certain of your compass star
and of the craft you've chose as yours.