September The Fifth

POEM in THREE PARTS

I
OH, on an early morning I think I shall live forever!
I am wrapped in my joyful flesh,
As the grass is wrapped in its clouds of green.

II
Rising from a bed, where I dreamt
Of long rides past castles and hot coals,
The sun lies happily on my knees;
I have suffered and survived the night,
Bathed in dark water, like any blade of grass.

III
The strong leaves of the box-elder tree,
Plunging in the wind, call us to disappear
Into the wilds of the universe,
Where we shall sit at the foot of a plant,
And live forever, like the dust.

-- ROBERT BLY
Poetry Of The Psalms: Red poppies growing in a grassy field in Greece. Taken in 1964 by photographer Paul Schutzer. Life magazine archives.