Brendan McBreen ---- Cento

Cento 1

            Brendan McBreen

It’s the dream we carry

From the Northern lakes with the reeds and rushes,

for the thoughts we share

not ready to give it over

to the eternal surf, to Time!

Swallow this, it will make you well.

Come stand with me, look forward, not back,

For this is love and nothing else is love,

            A Cento is a form where each line is taken from another poem.

            Olav H. Hauge, Borealis, translated by Robert Hadin

            Andrew Barton Paterson, The Black Swans

            Nikki Giovanni, A Poem of Friendship

            Naomi Shihab Nye, Boy and Egg

            Pablo Neruda, Always, translator not named

            Ogden Nash, Adventures Of Isabel

            Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Let us not be bitter

            Robert Frost, A Prayer in Spring