POEMS BY TODD KLEIN

Selections from "By Moonlight", collected in 1979

 

THE STROKING OF A CAT

 

The stroking of a cat must be

Just exactly so.

And if it isn't just exactly:

You'll know.

 

BY MOONLIGHT

 

The misty waters of the moon

Flow swirlingly upon the land.

The buildings slowly fade away,

The lights and noises disappear,

A whirling mist of mystery,

An ancient spell of sorcery

Is rising from the rock and sand.

 

A ripple runs across the field

And up the wooded mountainsides,

A magical awakening,

A clarion of Grimoirye,

A vague and haunting memory,

Remembrance of the magic things

That sleeping in the earth do hide.

 

Now stirring in the trees and wells,

The dryads and the naiads come.

The elvish songs are ringing out,

The earthen goblins dig again.

A stretch of scaly claw and wing,

An underground awakening,

A dragon sails across the glen

Where highways used to run.

 

LOVE BEYOND HER MEANS, a sonnet

 

She lives each day in fear of losing him,

Her sleep is rent with nightmares of denial.

His love for her is but a moment's whim;

He said that he would take her for a while.

 

She knew it would be this way from the start,

And yet she will not let herself believe—

He does not think of her when they're apart,

She knows that when alone he will not grieve.

 

She tries with every charm to keep him on,

A quiet desperation born of pain.

One morning she awakes and he is gone,

Her life is gray and empty once again.

 

The price is always greater than it seems

When she begins to love beyond her means.

 

INVENT MEANT

 

To be inventive,

We must invent;

Yet our incentive may,

Indeed, be spent.

Inventive bent,

Though heaven sent,

Must have incentive,

It is evident.

Do not relent,

We must prevent

The representing of

Impediment.

Every descent

With that intent

Leaves the inventor

With contentment spent.

 

MY APOLOGIES

 

The sun,

The moon, the earth

And stars I've gathered here

At your request.

I couldn't get the rest.