We've all heard of palindromic words - words that read the same when written forward as well as backward. "Malayalam", (incidentally, my mother tongue) is a 9-letter long palindrome. Some of the common palindromic words go like "rotator", "reviver", "civic", "kayak", "level", etc. Then there are palindromic phrases, some real crafty ones that make great t-shirt messages and run like - "A Toyota's a Toyota" or "Was it Eliot's toilet I saw?" or even "Lewd did I live, & evil I did dwel".

But this poem should surely take the cake. Written as one long palindrome spread across 32 lines, notice how the poet sets the scene in the beginning, reaches the centre, then deftly reverses the situation. Amazing creativity!

Entering the lonely house with my wife
I saw him for the first time
Peering furtively from behind a bush --
Blackness that moved,
A shape amid the shadows,
A momentary glimpse of gleaming eyes
Revealed in the ragged moon.
A closer look (he seemed to turn) might have
Put him to flight forever --
I dared not
(For reasons that I failed to understand),
Though I knew I should act at once.
I puzzled over it, hiding alone,
Watching the woman as she neared the gate.
He came, and I saw him crouching
Night after night.
Night after night
He came, and I saw him crouching,
Watching the woman as she neared the gate.
I puzzled over it, hiding alone --
Though I knew I should act at once,
For reasons that I failed to understand
I dared not
Put him to flight forever.
A closer look (he seemed to turn) might have
Revealed in the ragged moon.
A momentary glimpse of gleaming eyes
A shape amid the shadows,
Blackness that moved.
Peering furtively from behind a bush,
I saw him for the first time,
Entering the lonely house with my wife.

(Now let me go off for a palindrome - something that I haven't done for many a Sunday afternoon - grabbing some blessed "Zzzzzzzzzz".
Adios to all!)