O Said I To Myself To-Day 2 Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai

O said I to myself to-day
As I was walking below the arches
Of Saint John’s Square in old Valletta
The air was lean; the clouds were mean
And frowning as I passed
By the shops, the restaurant, the shoe shops,
The clothes shops and the rest:
Then up to Zachary Street and more shops,
O I said to myself under the arches
If why so-called living things are as of sexes
Why females are as females, males as males
A book of Principles will open before me:
Let me explore and think and find Principles.
No sooner said than done.
On the damp earth made slippery by the rain
That slant-wise under the arches too had wetted
I was about to slip; O! my back
Have I broken my spine? Fear, fear, fear.
And in the trembling of that Fear saw I
The fading – for the moment – of my thinking.