The Ghent Review Volume1, Number 1, summer 2016 | Page 30

Young man:
A mind can see many things on a night like this
And not all of them are wholesome
Nor real. Tricks of the moon I say,
Tricks of the moon and nothing more than that.
Old man:
You are too adamant in your denials
What did you see?
Young man:
I saw nothing.
Old man:
What did you see? What did you see?
Tell me, tell me, what did you see?
Young man:
The leaves moved a little, that’s all.
Old man:
Yes the leaves moved and you saw the face
You did, didn’t you?
Young man:
I saw….I saw…
Old man:
Go one, say it, admit that you saw what I saw.
Young man:
How can I be sure what I saw on a night like this?
How can the mind trust itself under the paleness
Of the moon and the ragged clouds?
Old man:
Your heart knows more than your mouth will speak.
But your voice betrays you –
Yes, you saw what I first saw twenty years ago.