Fountain
Described by stylus into the
parterre, a fountain: in design
quatrefoil, lilypads perhaps,
the waters of creation held
by a low concrete wall, its eye,
a double Janus-head, addressed
the four corners of the round world,
stone-blind. Its north face was carved as
a child, the next a chimera,
the third was that of a soldier,
and the final was agèd, each
spouted limpid water as though
it were given truth, the life-cup,
the tale of wealth and bought vision,
as though it were cheap as bone, and
all the splashed blood were washed away,
forgot, and each hour o’ the clock
a watchman’s shout, a phallic plume
declared time’s subjugation,
the Sisyphean victory.
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