John Berryman
Great flaming God, bend to my troubles, dear.
I am asked to give up a way of life
established 22 years ago,
and by my dear wife, in anxiety & fear.
My greatest efforts may not be enough.
My thought ceases to flow
forward to drinks & cigarettes & such
and sticks in the now. Where I must be
for years, for years, for years.
I am not myself, it suddenly appears,
but horrible habits, habits, habits, much
like those we ghastly see
in tragic drama -- but the hero dies.
Henry survives his holocaust. Walk on!
with your retching cough
& burning tongue & your sobrieties
in the Fifth Act, to bid the soldiers moan
and shoot. Applause sounds, off.