Hangman

I saw the wood
black rot, square yards of rubbish

steeples race to
the tempest, iron fingers
never chased, forever tempted

I saw the jinxed heart dangling
from its watches

by compulsive thread of sense
we are led
to games of hangman

word guessed
incorrectly was killing us
unsaid

a body now loosed in its cistern
(1987)