Classic Poem

to the house
and its white linen

to the chub, his guts out,
the grass from his throat
and fresh herbs in his belly

to the draper's English
whose sincerity is like a horse
and rider on a sanded path

to Isaak Walton's English
sounding like the small bell
of the knife-grinder

to the trout carved in the table
of the little fishing house
which gives greenwood to the water,

Good tongue to you all
who like the chubb
are tied to splinters.