Collected Poems

OLD AGE COMPENSATION

For the air I want to breathe. Come breathe me, dark prince. And Morgan lay there Clean shaved like a baby By the nurse who said no. And so a couple Of years ago, The old poets died Young. And now the young, Scarlet on their wings, fly away Over the marshes. OLD AGE COMPENSATION There are no roads but the frost, And the pumpkins look haggard. The ants have gone down to the grave, crying God spare them one green blade. Failing the grass, they have abandoned the grass. All creatureswho have died today of old age Have gone more than ten miles already. All day I have slogged behind And dreamed of them praying for one candle, Only one. Fair enough. Only, from where I stand, I can see one last night nurse shining in one last window In the Home for Senior Citizens. The white uniform flickers, the town is gone. What do I do now? I have one candle, But what's the use? If only they can catch up with twilight, They'll be safe enough. Their boats are moored there, among the cattails And the night-herons' nests. All they have to do now Is to get one of those lazy birds awake long enough To guide them across the river. SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER 147 Herons fly low, too. All it will take is one old man trawling one oar. Anybody can follow a blue wing, They don't need my candle. But I do. BEFORE A CASHIER'S WINDOW IN A DEPARTMENT STORE i. The beautiful cashier's white face has risen once more Behind a young manager's shoulder. They 'whisper together, and stare Straight into my face. I feel like grabbing a stray child Or a skinny old woman And driving into a cellar, crouching Under a stone bridge, praying myself sick, Till the troops pass. 2. Why should he care? Ele goes. I slump deeper. In my frayed coat, I am pinned down By debt. He nods, Commending my flesh to the pity of the daws of God. 3Am I dead? And, if not, why not? For she sails there, alone, looming in the heaven of the beautiful. She knows The bulldozers will scrape me up After dark, behind The officers' club. Beneath her terrible blaze, my skeleton Glitters out. I am the dark. I am the dark Bone I was born to be. 148 ...