Man on a Bus
(Sonnet, answering to its definition in the Oxford Dictionary: ‘Poem of 14 lines, usu. rhyming thus: pig bat cat wig jig hat rat fig; lie red sob die bed rob or lie red die bed pie wed; or otherwise . . .’)
FAT, jellied, creased, and naked, like a pig,
Unaired and damp, nocturnal as a bat,
His face hangs like a bulb; slick as a cat
His hand curls up his cheek, explores his
wig;
The slight vibration starts a kind of jig
In his soft chins; beneath his trembling hat
Move tiny eyes, flat red eyes of a rat,
And open mouth, a purple, swollen fig.
Unaired and damp, nocturnal as a bat,
His face hangs like a bulb; slick as a cat
His hand curls up his cheek, explores his
wig;
The slight vibration starts a kind of jig
In his soft chins; beneath his trembling hat
Move tiny eyes, flat red eyes of a rat,
And open mouth, a purple, swollen fig.
This loose indecent mass one day shall lie
Hushed and at peace, stilled eyes no longer
red,
And with a private dignity shall die
Mutely along his own familiar bed;
So this great paste, this ill-conditioned pie,
This man, his own high universe shall wed.
Hushed and at peace, stilled eyes no longer
red,
And with a private dignity shall die
Mutely along his own familiar bed;
So this great paste, this ill-conditioned pie,
This man, his own high universe shall wed.
JUSTINE CHASE