‘Rock of Salvation.’ Unreality of the Metaphor (Full Text)

one blues

i do not sing the storm. i do not sing rage, wrath
the lightning bolt, the scream. Despair i do not sing 
i do not sing struggle–revenge…

privilege

only i 
have bitten your lips

Angry Wind

an angry wind blows by and sets you hair on fire
like autumn leaf in flames you’re dragged on trails of ashes
a rain falls over us, a rain…

no one

by pallid balladeers, by wounded boys in flames
by sad, downhearted kings or by modern guitars:
how many lines of love have been declared away…

sweet

you are sweet as the water of a woman’s sweet river
that showers with its flowing every beautiful night:
sweet as the coffee flower whose breath is…

in the gardens of time

oh innocent word 
oh shady hair
oh dark flower whose fragrant flapping 
wounds the skin of the soul
oh cold mouth
like…

free

as free as crying soul enclosed deeply in a grave
as free as wounded blood that runs away from veins
as free as infant’s cry fleeing the cradle’s…

soldier’s lullaby

“good night little one
don’t open your eyes:
it’s i, your unquiet, sick dad

the dad i never had

long ago by the good will
of a Californian town
a good worker was smiling
for the first time in his life
he was forty & he…