He began –
I celebrate myself,
and I assume you shall
assume,
When his Song met
the world,
he was old enough
to have experienced
lands and people
from the Eastern surf
to the raw,
unpolished edge of the West,
to know what he
did not know
When his Song was
first ink,
he was young
enough to be sure
his knowledge was
expansive
enough to cover
all that was known
in America and by
its inhabitants.
I began my Song to
his Song,
old enough to know
less
than I once knew,
to have forgotten
much that was
important
trivia retained
too easily for comfort.
When I finish my
Song,
I will have
forgotten more,
perhaps to pay the
lights and phone,
where I left my
keys,
to lock the house
and feed the dog.
But I will
remember the folks
in his Song and
the twist
of time and place
I put them in.
*
After much ink
and many hours,
lines and dreams,
he finished
missing me one place
search another,
I stop somewhere waiting
for you.
to begin again in
another Song
Come closer to me,
Push close my lovers and
take the best I possess,*
After many
electrons,
fits and starts,
hours, lines and
thought,
I will begin
another
until there is no
time and life
and I begin a
search
I do not believe
will occur.
* From Song for Occupations