James Dickey: The Selected Poems

From Time

FROM TIME Deborahfor iears at the Piano My hands that were not born completely Matched that struck at a hurt wire upward Somehere on the uncentered plain Without cause: my hands that could not befriend Themselves, though openly fielded: That never came out Intercepting: that could get nothing back Ofa diamonded pay-off: the whole long-promised Harmonic blaze ofboredom never comingnow flock In a slow change like limitless gazing: From back-handed, disheartening cliff-sound, are now A new, level anvilling oftones, Spread crown, an evening sprinkle ofheight, Perfected wandering. Here is The whole body cousinly: are Heartenings, charged with invented time, A chord with lawn-broadness, Lean clarities. With a fresh, gangling resonance Truing handsomely, I draw on left-handed space For a brave ballast shelving and bracing, and from it, then, the light Prowling lift-off: the treble's strewn search and wide-angle glitter. How much ofthe body was wasted Before I drew up here! Who would have thought how much music The forearms had in them! How much ofSchumann and Bach In the shoulders, and the draining of the calves! I sit, as everlasting, In the overleafand memory-make of tedium, Puella 159 160 The past freely with me both hands Full in the overlook, the dead at their work-bench altars Half-approving time-releasing. ...