Paul Muldoon




The Avenue

Now that we’ve come to the end
I’ve been trying to piece it together,
Not that distance makes anything clearer.
It began in the half-light
While we walked through the dawn chorus
After a party that lasted all night,
With the blackbird, the wood-pigeon,
The song-thrush taking a bludgeon
To a snail, our taking each other’s hand
As if the whole world lay before us.