1 DECEMBER 1990, page 49

The Man For Whom I Yearn Will Not Even Read

The letters which I send him. Pitiful indeed The tears that flow from self-contempt And all un-needed need.......

Stories Are What We Do Best

Celestria Noel THE PARCHMENT MOON compiled by Susan Hill Michael Joseph, £14.99, pp. 371 WAR FEVER by J. G. Ballard Collins, £12.95, pp. 176 ON THE EVE OF UNCERTAIN TOMORROWS by......

Visiting The Master

If no one calls, I'm glad; and, if they do, Narked that they blunt the edge of my loneliness, Of my watching the flowers wilt and the slow wind strew Untrodden pathways red.......

Forget The Conventional Wisdom In Saying And Song, For In

fact one forgets whatever was lovely. Ah, but how long One remembers the hurtful, the saddening things, All the things that went wrong.......

You Ask If I've Forgotten You.

Whether I had or not, Now that I know you ask such questions Only a you-know-what Would fail to see that a man like you Were someone best forgot. Lady Izimi Shikibu (973-c.1033)......