The Midnight Skaters

Ronald Lampitt. Skating by Moonlight

The Midnight Skaters

The hop-poles stand in cones,

     The icy pond lurks under,

The pole-tops steeple to the thrones

     Of stars, sound gulfs of wonder;

But not the tallest there, 'tis said,

Could fathom to this pond's black bed.

Then is not death at watch

     Within those secret waters?

What wants he but to catch

     Earth's heedless sons and daughters?

With but a crystal parapet

Between, he has his engines set.

Then on, blood shouts, on, on,

     Twirl, wheel and whip above him,

Dance on this ball-floor thin and wan,

     Use him as though you love him;

Court him, elude him, reel and pass,

And let him hate you through the glass.

Edmund Blunden

I appreciate (in a strange way) this reminder of just how close death is. That the people in this poem are dancing and sweeping and swirling on the thinnest of barriers is so true, so real. Anyone who has lived a little will have felt that breathstopping proximity. In the poem Death's presence is a sinister contrast to the mood above the ice. But the poet is not cowed.  "Use him as though you love him." That line is intriguing. What does "using death" look like? I have to think about that.