The Picket Fence

Adapted from the German of Christian Morgenstern
by G P Skratz


The Picket Fence

Once there was a fence of teak
with gaps between, through which to peek.

An architect who saw all this
appeared one evening from the mist

& took the void between the planks
& built a house from all the blanks.

The fence looked dumb, the way it stood,
with less than nothing left but wood:

a vulgar sight: a drunken clown.
The city council tore it down.

Our friend, the architect, escaped
inside the house he built of space.


Howard A. Landman / howard@polyamory.org
Created 1997 March 19
Last updated 1997 March 19