In the raised brimming glass of the moon,
in the empty beaker of the day
in the sad, bedraggled evening
hot and bothered at the end of play
two bats met above the town’s rooftops
colliding on the air’s highway:
a long-eared bat in a cassock of black
and a short-eared bat with its collar turned back
collided above the rooftops
of the chic new shops in the centre of town.
And I ask you members of the jury, now,
which one of them had right of way?
Reprise
Beyond the busy gabbling of the air waves,
the shot-off arse of time’s clearway
in the last relinquished evening
of the not-very-bothered last day
two bats met above the conflagration
jostling in heaven’s doorway:
a free-tailed bat turbaned with black
and a pipistrelle with cassock on its back
elbowed and jostled above the conflagration
in a time out of time on the edge of time.
And I ask the jury: In this instance,
to which, if any, would you give admittance?
michael9murray 