Facing the Field of Death
|
Facing the Field of Death
Facing the Field of Death
Around that heap of earth I hovered,
Not a drop of tear I shed.
I’ve had them flow at will,
Turning my heart a deep dry well.
I inhaled the fresh smell of earth,
Longed to revel in that existential myth.
I sat on that field of death,
Feeling a strange sense of mirth.
My mind reeling writhing in pain,
Produced nothing more than a thought chain.
Lots of courage to do it,
You don't have it in you to do it.
I stood up to derail the train,
That kept pushing at the back of my head.
Then straight I went on lest I turned to salt.
And all flags and alarms put on halt.
Dreams no more excite me,
And nightmares wilt away from me.
|
Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.
Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) U.S. poet.