21 DECEMBER 1991, page 76

Bastard

Into a suddenly sunny spring dawn A bastard creeps out through a crack in some Until-then, immaculate-looking woodwork. He inhales the air and smiles, and everything Looks good......

Leaping Over Death

William Scammell W e poets in our youth begin in glad- ness, But thereof comes in the end despondency and madness', said Wordsworth. And serve you right, too, mutters the rest......