From the East End
to the other end
of the rope –
thank God I can hang on my hope,
and
smile;
history is a serpentine aisle;
gardens-cum-parks a la Kent,
not to be
but to bend …

from attempt
to contempt,
if I only could bend!

I circle the riddle
I am caught in the middle…

In the end,
for all I will ever defend,
I feel free to fail to repent.

© Elena Malec, London,1999