Collected Poems of John Holmes
Holmes, John A., Jr.
2002
In cities
In cities
Morning and evening come and there are names Around me, sunlight and evening come and go, And there are words. | |
Walls are the same always, only shadows Change. The air sometimes is cool like water To taste, cool to breathe at the window. Bells ring the hours. Dreams can be sad, dreams are far sadder Than any daylight ill. | |
I have awakened Dumb with grief, heavy with woe unbearable, An remembered the room, and slept again. I have been taken by music, I have surrendered, listening to music, And after, have returned to the street with people Who heard like me, who were swept with banners also. | |
Nevertheless they will not speak of it No one will understand the names I have For this, no one will say my words After me, naming these things.. | |