Painting by Caravaggio 1571-1610
AUDEN’S ENTR’ACTE
Bloomsbury is over
in your latent Latin
you learn about
God at matins,
What about Iscarriot
and the betrayal
the proletariat
no longer on the grail,
Life was a lament
even in exile
you were a parent
in the smile of a gent,
We spoke
after a reading
and you awoke
for a drink and feeding,
Your sunken
rather braided face
a drunken Rimbaud
you quoted by grace,
The urban window
in the pub was airless
you ordered Bourbon
my English was careless,
There was a wise wit
of public convenience
at private conscience
your eyes lit up,
At least I met you
even between acts
Auden will always
be modern in his end days.