The Glasgow-born psychiatrist and international guru R D Laing (1927-89) was also an accomplished poet.
Here is sonnet 16, rueful and heartfelt, from a series of 38 published by Michael Joseph in 1979.
NOW ALL OUR GUESTS HAVE COME
AND GONE AWAY
Now all our guests have come and gone away,
And you and I can hold each other close.
No need for haste as we await the day
The night falls into. No need suppose
We've failed to find what we had lost before
We caught the gleam in one another's eyes
Which signalled hope returned, to teach us more
Than seemed our crumpled hearts could realise.
The ghosts of youth are weary of the stage.
There's no one left to offer us a fight.
No sermons we must sit through at our age.
No passing fancies shrouding our delight.
Sweetheart, our love is true, but can't outlast
Our ruined, raddled flesh. O hold me fast.
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