Anniversary Poem
4.
'the picturesque
common lot' the unwarranted light
Where everyone has been
The very ground of the path
And the litter grow ancient
A shovel's scratched edge
So like any other man's
We are troubled by incredulity
We are troubled by scratched things
Becoming familiar
Becoming extreme
Let grief
Be
So it be ours
Nor hide one's eyes
As tides drop along the beaches in the thin wash of
breakers
And so desert each other
--lest there be nothing
The Indian girl walking across the desert, the
sunfish under the boat
How shall we say how this happened, these stories, our
stories
Scope, mere size, a kind of redemption
Exposed still and jagged on the San Francisco hills
Time and depth before us, paradise of the real, we
know what it is
To find depth, not time, since we cannot, but depth
To come out safe, to end well
We have begun to say good bye
To each other
And cannot say it
'the picturesque
common lot' the unwarranted light
Where everyone has been
The very ground of the path
And the litter grow ancient
A shovel's scratched edge
So like any other man's
We are troubled by incredulity
We are troubled by scratched things
Becoming familiar
Becoming extreme
Let grief
Be
So it be ours
Nor hide one's eyes
As tides drop along the beaches in the thin wash of
breakers
And so desert each other
--lest there be nothing
The Indian girl walking across the desert, the
sunfish under the boat
How shall we say how this happened, these stories, our
stories
Scope, mere size, a kind of redemption
Exposed still and jagged on the San Francisco hills
Time and depth before us, paradise of the real, we
know what it is
To find depth, not time, since we cannot, but depth
To come out safe, to end well
We have begun to say good bye
To each other
And cannot say it