Packing up the lute.(New poems)(Poem)

 
Packing up the lute 
 
   I ease you down, your strings set loose 
      A tone or three, all twinkle gone, 
   Into this snug case shaped like a goose 
      Or casket for some crook-necked swan, 
 
   Your body wrapped in satin cloth, 
      Head nestled between blocks of foam, 
   Lid latched against woodworm and moth 
      Then stacked in our attic catacomb 
 
   While I, who used to warm and tease you 
      Thumbing your belly's deepest cords, 
   Keep wondering couldn't we deepfreeze you 
      Or lift you on some rocket towards 
 
   The icy waste space beyond Mars 
      Unfingered by earth's ...