To think that one agonises for weeks or months over what will be read or recited in a moment. A poet can but hope it is the sweetest moment in a reader’s life, echoing in his soul for a lifetime thereafter.

If, like me, you compose many variations for a stanza (there is, after all, a thousand ways to say something, even when confined by the rules of the traditional style) and have difficulty choosing the best among them, wait; the right choice (or version of that choice) will eventually become apparent—what seems an impossible decision now will be obvious in a matter of hours, days or (sometimes) weeks.