HORNPIPES, FOUNDLINGS AND GEESE

When John Thomas Smith was two
Nancy Dawson, the hornpipe dancer,
Died and was buried under a stone
Bearing only her name. It is still there,
Behind the Foundling Hospital.
Sixty years later, Smith noted her death
In his sort of an autobiography.
There she is, a few pages after
The goose Smith's mother once knew
Who worked with a cheesecake woman
In Greenwich, honking at regular clients,
Moving on if they said "Not today."
Immortality comes on its own terms.

DANCERS IN A SKETCH OF DAUMIER'S

So tightly they grip hands!
How fast they circle round!
The goose, in vain, honks
Alarmed that their feet
Have left the ground.