In the footsteps of the walking air
Sky’s prophetic chickens weave their cloth of awe
And hillsides lift green wings in somber journeying.
Night in his soft haste bumps on the shoulders of the abyss
And a single drop of dark blood covers the earth.
Now is the China of the spirit at walking
In my reaches.
A sable organ sounds in my gathered will
And love’s inscrutable skeleton sings.
My seeing moves under a vegetable shroud
And dead forests stand where once Mary stood.
Sullen stone dogs wait in the groves of water …
Though the wanderer drown, his welfare is as a fire
That burns at the bottom of the sea, warming
Unknown roads for sleep to walk upon.
(Kenneth Patchen)
More Poetry from Kenneth Patchen:
Kenneth Patchen Poems based on Topics: Night, Fire, Water, Walking- Eve Of St. Agony Or The Middleclass Was Sitting On Its Fat (Kenneth Patchen Poems)
- The Rites Of Darkness (Kenneth Patchen Poems)
- The Murder Of Two Men By A Young Kid Wearing Lemon-colored Gloves (Kenneth Patchen Poems)
- The Cloth Of The Tempest (Kenneth Patchen Poems)
- Do the Dead Know what Time It Is? (Kenneth Patchen Poems)
- In Order To (Kenneth Patchen Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Night Poems, Fire Poems, Water Poems, Walking PoemsBased on Keywords: inscrutable, vegetable, chickens, hillsides, somber, bumps