Dreamsong 28 by John Berryman
There sat down, once, a thing on Henry’s heart
sats heavy, if he had a hundred years
& more, & weeping, sleepless, in all them time
Henry could not make good.
Starts again always in Henry’s ears
the little cough somewhere, an odour, a chime.And there is another thing he has in mind
like a grave Sienese face a thousand years
would fail to blur the still profiled reproach of. Ghastly,
with open eyes, he attends, blind.
All the bells say: too late. This is not for tears;
thinking.But never did Henry, as he thought he did,
end anyone and hacks her body up
and hide the pieces, where they may be found.
He knows: he went over everyone, & nobody’s missing.
Often he reckons, in the dawn, them up.
Nobody is ever missing.
Hear the man himself recite DS28. His pace and inflections add dimension to the printed version.
Hi. I know. I have linked to a recital from the same movie? elsewhere on this blog http://shigekuni.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/john-berryman-god-among-poets/
Incredible. I wonder how he sounded sober.