In the Old Curiosity Shop I dwelt

with Kit and Nell and Daniel Quilp

all trapped inside the story lines

and a skein of judgments in bygone times.

 

Half dozing in the murky heat

my body tired under the sheet

I was much disturbed to see

a character leaving its destiny

 

by walking out onto the page

or so it seemed in its tiny flourish

the plot suspended, too dense to nourish

the mind of this lethargic reader,

 

or so I thought,

 

Truth is, an insect traversed the text

into the margin, circumflexed

and paused at the backward steps of pages

 

then disappeared among the leaves

of this tale of gypsies, tramps and thieves.