The Pear Tree

by Tim Dooley

The Pear Tree
after Giacomo da Latini

How wonderful it is
that this tightens its hold
dragging me back at all hours,
like an artist whose mind
is stuck in one place
with the old image again,
all powers focussed
as if at the start
on a form held in the heart.

It seems I’ve taken you to heart
as if the real thing
not the copy that I’ve made.
I feel such shame
that I just look at you,
the light catching your form}
on the other side of the canal,
like a believer
confiding in an icon.