Hi C,

I like it a lot.

Cheers,

Frank



The Tales of Faust poetry page can be found at:
http://www.hotkey.net.au/~flp/F_index.htm

>
>              Dougie's Balzams
>
>
>              Perhaps the brown wax will never be broken.
>              And perhaps the Rigas Melnais Balzams
>              will rot in complete absence of light, sealed
>              behind the glaze of the cool ceramic vessel.
>              Christ, what darkness and mystery.
>
>              How would it smell, opened after fifty years?
>              Does 45 proof pure Latvian grain preserve
>              root, herb, and flower?  How would it taste,
>              this old black Baltic brew he brought from Riga
>              in the time of iron rule and left untouched?
>
>              We found it in a cupboard when he died -
>              with boxed Czech crystal, lacquered spoons,
>              cross-stitch cloths in tattered cellophane.
>              We took it, hid it behind volumes of Marx,
>              guzzled our way home through single malt
>
>              and spluttered homilies across bread
>              and tear-soaked chicken tikka - the same diet,
>              day after day, until the cask ran dry
>              and not a chicken could be found
>              between yeast and barley.
>
>              And now I hold it in my hands. Cold bottle.
>              Born again Muscovite friends tell me it contains
>              a balsam, in short supply, that cures body
>              and spirit.  I will not open it yet.
>              I am tired of intoxication and certainty.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>              christina fletcher
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>              christina fletcher
>


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