The Flower
A petal, colorless and without form
the oblong towers lie
beyond the low hill and northward the great
bridge stanchions,
small in the distance, have appeared,
pinkish and incomplete —
It is the city,
approaching over the river. Nothing
of it is mine, but visibly
for all that it is petal of a flower — my own.
It is a flower through which the wind
combs the whitened grass and a black dog
with yellow legs stands eating from a
garbage barrel. One petal goes eight blocks
past two churches and a brick school beyond
the edge of the park where under trees
leafless now, women having nothing else to do
sit in summer — to the small house
in which I happen to have been born. Or
a heap of dirt, if you care
to say it, frozen and sunstreaked in
the January sun, returning.
Then they hand you — they who wish to God
you'd keep your fingers out of
their business — science or philosophy or
anything else they can find to throw off
to distract you. But Madame Lenine
is a benefactress when under her picture
in the papers she is quoted as saying:
Children should be especially protected
from religion. Another petal
reaches to San Diego, California where
a number of young men, New Yorkers most
of them, are kicking up the dust.
A flower, at its heart (the stamens, pistil,
etc.) is a naked woman, about 38, just
out of bed, worth looking at both for
her body and her mind and what she has seen
and done. She it was put me straight
about the city when I said, It
makes me ill to see them run up
a new bridge like that in a few months
and I can't find time even to get
a book written. They have the power,
that's all, she replied. That's what you all
want. If you can't get it, acknowledge
at least what it is. And they're not
going to give it to you. Quite right.
For years I've been tormented by
that miracle, the buildings all lit up —
unable to say anything much to the point
though it is the major sight
of this region. But foolish to rhapsodize over
strings of lights, the blaze of a power
in which I have not the least part.
Another petal reaches
into the past, to Puerto Rico
when my mother was a child bathing in a small
river and splashing water up on
the yucca leaves to see them roll back pearls.
The snow is hard on the pavements. This
is no more a romance than an allegory.
I plan one thing — that I could press
buttons to do the curing of or caring for
the sick that I do laboriously now by hand
for cash, to have the time
when I am fresh, in the morning, when
my mind is clear and burning — to write.
A petal, colorless and without form
the oblong towers lie
beyond the low hill and northward the great
bridge stanchions,
small in the distance, have appeared,
pinkish and incomplete —
It is the city,
approaching over the river. Nothing
of it is mine, but visibly
for all that it is petal of a flower — my own.
It is a flower through which the wind
combs the whitened grass and a black dog
with yellow legs stands eating from a
garbage barrel. One petal goes eight blocks
past two churches and a brick school beyond
the edge of the park where under trees
leafless now, women having nothing else to do
sit in summer — to the small house
in which I happen to have been born. Or
a heap of dirt, if you care
to say it, frozen and sunstreaked in
the January sun, returning.
Then they hand you — they who wish to God
you'd keep your fingers out of
their business — science or philosophy or
anything else they can find to throw off
to distract you. But Madame Lenine
is a benefactress when under her picture
in the papers she is quoted as saying:
Children should be especially protected
from religion. Another petal
reaches to San Diego, California where
a number of young men, New Yorkers most
of them, are kicking up the dust.
A flower, at its heart (the stamens, pistil,
etc.) is a naked woman, about 38, just
out of bed, worth looking at both for
her body and her mind and what she has seen
and done. She it was put me straight
about the city when I said, It
makes me ill to see them run up
a new bridge like that in a few months
and I can't find time even to get
a book written. They have the power,
that's all, she replied. That's what you all
want. If you can't get it, acknowledge
at least what it is. And they're not
going to give it to you. Quite right.
For years I've been tormented by
that miracle, the buildings all lit up —
unable to say anything much to the point
though it is the major sight
of this region. But foolish to rhapsodize over
strings of lights, the blaze of a power
in which I have not the least part.
Another petal reaches
into the past, to Puerto Rico
when my mother was a child bathing in a small
river and splashing water up on
the yucca leaves to see them roll back pearls.
The snow is hard on the pavements. This
is no more a romance than an allegory.
I plan one thing — that I could press
buttons to do the curing of or caring for
the sick that I do laboriously now by hand
for cash, to have the time
when I am fresh, in the morning, when
my mind is clear and burning — to write.
the oblong towers lie
beyond the low hill and northward the great
bridge stanchions,
small in the distance, have appeared,
pinkish and incomplete —
It is the city,
approaching over the river. Nothing
of it is mine, but visibly
for all that it is petal of a flower — my own.
It is a flower through which the wind
combs the whitened grass and a black dog
with yellow legs stands eating from a
garbage barrel. One petal goes eight blocks
past two churches and a brick school beyond
the edge of the park where under trees
leafless now, women having nothing else to do
sit in summer — to the small house
in which I happen to have been born. Or
a heap of dirt, if you care
to say it, frozen and sunstreaked in
the January sun, returning.
Then they hand you — they who wish to God
you'd keep your fingers out of
their business — science or philosophy or
anything else they can find to throw off
to distract you. But Madame Lenine
is a benefactress when under her picture
in the papers she is quoted as saying:
Children should be especially protected
from religion. Another petal
reaches to San Diego, California where
a number of young men, New Yorkers most
of them, are kicking up the dust.
A flower, at its heart (the stamens, pistil,
etc.) is a naked woman, about 38, just
out of bed, worth looking at both for
her body and her mind and what she has seen
and done. She it was put me straight
about the city when I said, It
makes me ill to see them run up
a new bridge like that in a few months
and I can't find time even to get
a book written. They have the power,
that's all, she replied. That's what you all
want. If you can't get it, acknowledge
at least what it is. And they're not
going to give it to you. Quite right.
For years I've been tormented by
that miracle, the buildings all lit up —
unable to say anything much to the point
though it is the major sight
of this region. But foolish to rhapsodize over
strings of lights, the blaze of a power
in which I have not the least part.
Another petal reaches
into the past, to Puerto Rico
when my mother was a child bathing in a small
river and splashing water up on
the yucca leaves to see them roll back pearls.
The snow is hard on the pavements. This
is no more a romance than an allegory.
I plan one thing — that I could press
buttons to do the curing of or caring for
the sick that I do laboriously now by hand
for cash, to have the time
when I am fresh, in the morning, when
my mind is clear and burning — to write.
A petal, colorless and without form
the oblong towers lie
beyond the low hill and northward the great
bridge stanchions,
small in the distance, have appeared,
pinkish and incomplete —
It is the city,
approaching over the river. Nothing
of it is mine, but visibly
for all that it is petal of a flower — my own.
It is a flower through which the wind
combs the whitened grass and a black dog
with yellow legs stands eating from a
garbage barrel. One petal goes eight blocks
past two churches and a brick school beyond
the edge of the park where under trees
leafless now, women having nothing else to do
sit in summer — to the small house
in which I happen to have been born. Or
a heap of dirt, if you care
to say it, frozen and sunstreaked in
the January sun, returning.
Then they hand you — they who wish to God
you'd keep your fingers out of
their business — science or philosophy or
anything else they can find to throw off
to distract you. But Madame Lenine
is a benefactress when under her picture
in the papers she is quoted as saying:
Children should be especially protected
from religion. Another petal
reaches to San Diego, California where
a number of young men, New Yorkers most
of them, are kicking up the dust.
A flower, at its heart (the stamens, pistil,
etc.) is a naked woman, about 38, just
out of bed, worth looking at both for
her body and her mind and what she has seen
and done. She it was put me straight
about the city when I said, It
makes me ill to see them run up
a new bridge like that in a few months
and I can't find time even to get
a book written. They have the power,
that's all, she replied. That's what you all
want. If you can't get it, acknowledge
at least what it is. And they're not
going to give it to you. Quite right.
For years I've been tormented by
that miracle, the buildings all lit up —
unable to say anything much to the point
though it is the major sight
of this region. But foolish to rhapsodize over
strings of lights, the blaze of a power
in which I have not the least part.
Another petal reaches
into the past, to Puerto Rico
when my mother was a child bathing in a small
river and splashing water up on
the yucca leaves to see them roll back pearls.
The snow is hard on the pavements. This
is no more a romance than an allegory.
I plan one thing — that I could press
buttons to do the curing of or caring for
the sick that I do laboriously now by hand
for cash, to have the time
when I am fresh, in the morning, when
my mind is clear and burning — to write.
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