Why am I unclean? I have not
Purified myself. What
Would make me pure?
Sleep and the vague
Pattern of dreams
Fills me with paintings of non-
Sense, and these colors whet
My limbs for work. Still
I would like the sharpened
Nub and the clean brush
-- The page that is
Frozen snow.

God, deliver me from myself,
Both as I am and as I will be.
Because what I am is a sickness
Which must needs come to term.
Then what would you make me?
Something fresh. I want to be born
Again: this is why we need water,
Which washes away the sin.
But give me no earthly fluid,
Instead, rain upon me your own
Tears. I will drink up this pity,
And when I am quenched I will bathe
Until I am clean in your love.

Things will come in the green hall:
The leopard served me --
I followed him in apron swath;
There were berries and laughing children.

Forget your aprons: the tubes
Already creep, and bananas have settled
On the street. These are old houses.

There is a room facing the sea.
A wind begets the windows
And a flower snows. There is a bed
And a pillow like a child’s head.

These things are real: the constellations
And moving air, the water, the fundament:
“Say it is dark, now -- say it is light.”
Let it turn. Let it turn.

Well, give them something. Could I have been better?
Think of a certain color’s bird. Think of a sound.
I find it difficult to reach past myself. “Kyrie eleison.” Yes:
I must turn back to you, I must say the word again, ‘you’,
While he chants and while they chant.
Is there anything more delicate than an apology?

If I thank you it is for present services rendered, benefits
Of which I am beneficiary -- beneficent -- good acts, good deeds
Whose title is a good return. The language of the law
Is barren and peculiar, the designation of the terms
Elaborate and effete: the contract is its signature,
Replete. “Sign the thought and mark the page,
Cross the lines.” Be sage. This property which I possess
I will not bless. “The offering was cut into
In two, and scattered blood as symbol served,
The smoke its seal: a savor and a sacrifice -- the deal.”