26 JANUARY 1985, Page 28

The Voyage

Happy the young man who disregards The siren who conceals herself in words, Stopping his ears but seizing on the flesh Which will serve his intelligence the best: What seas must he sail on, what strange lands Visit before he claims to understand What song the sirens sang or other such Matters which do not matter overmuch.

It was not so with me: I sought to find What errors might be in a human mind And to embrace them all, the skimpy ghosts Who flee like shadows when we need them most.

Yet the bold sailor comes to the same port As I who lived on charts and false reports.

Observe the wisdom that I have today!

Which others had, who had it on the way. C. H. Sisson