The Maynard
Spring 2018

Ice Skating in Holland

I never did, though I loved
Bruges, Delft, Amsterdam,
but I Bruehled on ice there then
and again later as I skated,
a child sometimes balanced
on my hip, skimming ponds in Ohio
and Upstate New York, West Virginia.
In Holland, I never browned
and blacked, with white and gray
dabbed with reds, but I rollicked
among the painted crowds
of Dutchmen, so disorderly
and joyous after living
in John Knoxian order.
In Scotland, even the dogs
moved as expected,
strangely subdued.
How much of my cheery past,
lived then and dancing now,
stepped right out of reproductions
or off of museum walls?