I hear you ask, ‘Is this the lot
and such a long time passed?’
Disguise the glum fact I cannot:
the headcount isn’t vast.

I hope you find some poems here,
though little and though late,
which light the mind or please the ear
and have been worth the wait.

You will, if in your mind one stays
after you turn its page,
redeem the outlay of my days
although I took an age.