Poetry by Stuart McFarlane
ENCOUNTER
I met the ghost of Dylan Thomas
late at night in Ardmillan Terrace.
His face, as white as alabaster,
he shouted out, 'Hey, you're plastered'!
Well, true, I'd imbibed some alcohol,
but did not take to his tone at all.
I conveyed my protests as best I could
but he just quoted from Under Milk Wood*.
I expressed my liking for his verse.
'The best', he said 'is by far the worst'.
I tried to guess this statement's meaning
yet could derive no glint or gleaning,
nor corpuscle of comprehension,
so I thought I could just as well mention
why he was out late on the street tonight,
in view of his tenuous links to life.
'To find a drink, just like always,
like I used to spend the old days'.
'I've the key to life, you can have the key,
if you can point me to a hostelry'.
'None', did I retort, 'twixt Earth and Heaven,
for they don't serve spirits beyond eleven'.
*Radio drama by Dylan Thomas published in 1954 and read first on stage on May 14th, 1953.
Stuart McFarlane is now semi-retired. He taught English for many years to asylum seekers in London. He has had poems published in a few online journals.
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