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Act 3: Dido and Aeneas: Henry Purcell: dd. 1695)
By Robert Balfour

An old man is thin, his generation thinner;
and longer and more lean to absorb, is the memory
of being young.

Death is alone, friendless.
(Now I am young
full in sap, suck, and stupidity).
But myself remember this.

In deference to my line and friend
– whom I love, whose fears I also feel;
a loss of our love,
power, hope –

carve one strong and gentle figure to Silence.
He can show – hand to earth and eyes to sun –
my breath where to pass, small and shy,
among weeds, and leaves, and sky.

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