Man on train: You have to plan for success,
but be prepared for failure; with all the assurance
of his squint-eyed beefy-armed years. Compressed
in the next seat, splay-kneed, in cuffed brown pants—
an equally-crumpled friend, throat guimped in tie ...
What has happened to us humans here? and how? and why?
The wife awaits—is she glad, and does she kiss
the meaty face—and does she love the crooked
eye; and do the giant arms enfold—her weariness—
remembering how longingly they 'd looked—?
You who say that joy can no one flood or melt
for long, adamantly I will argue down;
flailing out as if I knew, as if I had already felt
twenty, thirty years of love growing, grown—
and writing words—write!—as if to show
a history I haven't had, of things I cannot know ....
but be prepared for failure; with all the assurance
of his squint-eyed beefy-armed years. Compressed
in the next seat, splay-kneed, in cuffed brown pants—
an equally-crumpled friend, throat guimped in tie ...
What has happened to us humans here? and how? and why?
The wife awaits—is she glad, and does she kiss
the meaty face—and does she love the crooked
eye; and do the giant arms enfold—her weariness—
remembering how longingly they 'd looked—?
You who say that joy can no one flood or melt
for long, adamantly I will argue down;
flailing out as if I knew, as if I had already felt
twenty, thirty years of love growing, grown—
and writing words—write!—as if to show
a history I haven't had, of things I cannot know ....
