For Yasser Arafat with Love

Lebanese boy in lighted khaki dancing
On planks; Cretan autumn moon
Swimming in fronds of tamarisk;
Boats wavering to the throb
Of underwater. Music fails.
The boy, vibrant as a young cedar,
Makes his feet move to a sound
Which is beyond us, at variance with sea,
Moment and movement, our breath
Stilled, fearing the endlessness; the end –
Comes down to the screak of wood
On the instant the music returns.

The Cretan town of Agia Galini sends a gift
For Yasser Arafat, a large mirror:
So that he may reflect on
A boy soldier dancing on turbulent water;
His own perturbed, unshaven face
Among the blue hand-painted perching doves.