Or life in the streets;
At home in the city.
Who knows me?
A mindful tramp,
I see eternity in a dumpster.
Comforted by the embracing steel am I;
No chill winds do bite me.
Embedded I lie,
Amid the twilight of the city,
Long to dream within that darkness bathed in light.
My cardboard companions I must leave you
To be caressed by a warmer hand,
Touched by a kinder glow
That rises to vanquish the twilight—
To rekindle the city in a blaze of baptismal delight.
I saunter forth a leisurely ant
As seen by those on high,
Who up above
Look down with distant eyes to see—
The wandering specter of my infinitesimal me.
I watch the children young and old,
Those with the innocent eyes;
Those that nurse,
Their bottles gripped by earthy hands,
Who having drunk of life too deep now quaff their tranquil brew.
The spirits of the city flock about me—
Iridescently bejeweled.
Statuesque,
They live upon the air
And draw their sustenance from the plenitude of Man.
I visit now some bounteous box,
My nourishment to find:
A crinkled can,
Some blemished fruit or dated bread.
O what marvelous things do come from my Cornucopia!
I am encanyoned by the city
At the bottom of a well,
There to dip,
From that spring of humankind,
A full measure of that misery most misjudge delight.
Yet I sing a song of merriment
And dance a silly jig,
For underfoot
Life's miracle unfolds—
A dandelion from the stony walk its golden head upholds!
The busy people they are coming
And going just the same.
Always in a circle,
They're never here to stay,
But move within their memories and live in what will be.
The truth is near yet we seek it far away:
In the echoes of the Masters,
In the pond's solemnity.
Though we search through the ages,
Whatever can we find without a love for living this our ordinary lives?
Our beloved Sun so bright is now an evening star.
The spectral city incandescently glows.
And so I lay me down
On a bed of yesterday's news,
Joyous for a life in paradise, this heaven that is Earth.
