Nabokov + Borges - Ian Lilburne

Nabokov + Borges
Over chess by the lake
Oblique in their inventions
The contiguous worlds they make
An eye aslant in a mirror
A hand caressing time
Chequered memories prism’d
Of distant richer climes
Where butterflies go dancing o’er
A bright imperious sky
Heroic men act alone
And the innocent always die

Nabokov + Borges
At a table in the shade
Their scrupulous strategies hidden
Their hidden layers displayed
A mystery of words
Riddles relayed
Armed
Adamantine
A cryptic cosmic game
A compass + a crossword
A lexicon + a map
A tetragram cypher’d
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Nabokov + Borges
Hyperborean before tea
Contained conscious knights
Nudging eternity