Escher’s Boat, Terzata #41

I left the slip in a small boat

With no oar or rudder to steer

On the knight’s castle moat.

The sail drooped, empty and sere.

I was drawn on, always slower —

A current from a series of weirs

Dropping me lower and lower.

I was passed by a fast ship.

Its captain made faces: grins, glowers.

I shot down another weir’s lip.

It took all I had to stay afloat.

Near sunset, I glided into the slip

Where I began this anecdote.

Three Worlds (Escher), Sonnet #291

The Koi sees, as we do, what's there,
Not the water, nor we, the air.
He hates the acid stink of leaves,
And how they choke his house's eaves.
Someday they will all disappear;
With one world gone, two seem clearer.
I count five kinds of leaves, or six,
But the trees have similar sticks.
I blame the wind for having blown,
Adding the errant to the known.
I see four worlds, though, not three;
Yes, the leaf, the pond, and the tree --
And the wakefulness of the Koi.
When he looks up here, he'll see me.