Bubbler

A lifetime onward, I know now the bubbler
In the school playground said things in my ear
As I soaked up the coolness with pursed lips.
“Bellerophon, framed by rejected Antea,
Has slain the Chimaera.”

I was too young to know these whispering
Refreshments were the classic voice of time
Drenching the world. But it got into me
Somehow, and when I wiped my mouth and chin
My lips were tingling with the urge to speak.

The bubblers, a generation later
Fed girls of Asian origin with the rush
Of ancient love-talk as they stood tiptoe,
Their cheeks awash. “The coolness of the night:
It penetrates my screen of sheer brushed silk
And chills my pillow, making cold the jade.”

Remember the brass guard to stop your kiss
Short of the dribbling bulb?
Yes, and I remember Aphrodite
Fresh from the bath, as the maths star Pam Yao Ming—
Who married an insurance man in Cabramatta—
Remembers the Shang Dynasty.