ACCOUNT OF MY DAYS
Sequence: 4
FIRST LIGHT
the other great example
like falling into a bath
so large it is not like a bath
at all it is a pond or small lake
the cattails on the slow and mucky sides
and in the center where you've fallen
the depth is part of the water
as struggle is part of the swimming
the depth in a line as straight
as the ocean horizon or
out on the great plains where
heaven and earth express
the even compromise between
their greatnesses by a level at the far
or farthest distance of sight
something out there almost at that distance
leaping and plunging madly
in the tall grass sparked with flowers
just as in former days when
buffalo or call them bison
were a brown flood filling the plains
till they fell in a flood of violence
swept away in that force
still surging about the world
and pulling some down daily
others left to shiver waiting
for the relief workers in their kind boats
balanced on a tide they will not fall into
or we hope they won't fall into
and pray through our eyes holding them up
as they come closer and we weep