9/25/03
Hunger, Autumn, Pain and Death.
Here I have stood to watch
Children sit crying on the sidewalk
Learning grave lessons in mortality.
Repulsing this, they find the feet to carry them off
To pave the cement that makes an island
Of this Paradise.
A tree is nurtured so:
Recycled mulch of our sins beds it,
This self-sustaining Fall of man,
And our despair waters the roots
Of this mortal tower.
This is the city's bleeding place--
In pain here women open to let children
Fall into the world,
Bathed in the rancid blood
In which they will grow.
Someday they'll return here
Finding affirmation in the confirmation
Of their fear.
Every Fall, this square of space
Expels its brand of flower
To reveal its annual treasure.
And we couldn't live with out this bane
It sustains the rhythm of our world.
Hunger, Autumn, Pain and Death.
--Oh, give us this day our daily fruit.
