geese

for you--I think the geese in winter

would suffice

fat and scavenging at the edge of the ice

the only birds to weather

that bitter season

... (xxxii).

... and the cup of life is short indeed

and thin and sour the greater taste

of each small portion

like all who live, I am in love with Fate

but while I live, I'd bewilder, baffle

and make her wait

while I go out, to sleep with Fortune.

... (xxxi).

when you walk the sidewalk like a plank

why trust to

the doom creaking along your soles?

why fear--why worry?

when the sky can weep for you only

and in one valley

when the clouds whisper

impending benedictions--across your eyes

when you can shadow the palm-trees

with your palm, thrust up to grasp the sky

the world is large--

but what blurring horizon is greater

than the span of your arms?

--when you can cast your shadow

farther than your breath

and no fist can come closer

than your face

--when you words fall as dust

unseen, below the feet of others

burnt to ash--

from ash and dust man is made