languishing times

twisted hopes
and tangled ropes
have turned my mind around,
memorizing stunted lies
have brought me hard aground. . .

half-felt
empty memories
of jaded nights gone by
warned by everlasting light
and never asking why. . .

spider web
and tide at ebb
these things are mine to see
persistent vagaries of thought
and trying hard to leave. . .

far out fiddlers
marching by
with violins unstrung
singing some forgotten hymn
i never had heard sung. . .

1975