BEGGARS’ LICE


A man is walking through the weeds,
or has walked. The weeds were moving,
and that was the wind.
Or the wind stood still and the weeds ran into it.
And a man was walking through the weeds.

He walked in bottomland on a road
under the slant of the morning sun.
The sun rose and the man was walking.
Through the weeds, still and moving,
he was out of sight by noon.
The sun grew out of a cloud
to run around the earth.
Or the sun stands still
and the earth rushes towards it.
And the clouds are moving in the sky.

Bring down these clouds to grey the earth
and rain on the man walking through the weeds.
He walks in sunlight, or in a fine mist
with the sun shining through it.
Or, on a windy knot of road,
under a low morning sun,
swift and motionless,
a man is walking through the weeds.

 
April 18, 1976


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