Moods

I have heard the water beasts roaring in the night, Leaping and howling, Stung to madness by the tempest’s might. I have seen them splintering their heads in a furious race, Plunging through the bellowing gloom With a boom ... boom ... boom— And from each torn face I have watched their white blood Sweeping in a foam across the night. I have heard the water beasts snarling at the wild beating blows Of the strong handed winds that tore them into rows And churned their entrails into hissing snows. The water is a restless smile soft as a woman’s hair. At noon it closes its vast blue eye and falls asleep. At night as the swooning day gives birth, The water is an opal glittering On the gnarled black fist of the earth. I have heard the water purring in the sun with its blue back arched, And have seen the drowsy water beasts rising from their beds. I have heard them chant as they formed and marched With their green peaked hoods tipping rakish on their heads. The water is frozen. Under its stiffened bosom The beasts run blindly to and fro And rising from beneath Crunch one another with their frozen teeth. It burns. My soul is like water.

The night is a black poppy. The moon weeps Spilling a torrent of silver tears Across the black petals. The wind laughs. The black face of the water Glistens with rows of flashing teeth Laughing back. Always laughter. Ho, the stars are little devils And I am their master.

Faces. Faces. Swimming like white fever specks away. Faces. Coming close. See the meaningless odd bumps on them called features: A maniac crooning over lumps of putty fashioned them. Look. Important faces! And there—nice empty ones (Yellow bits of paper blanks Blown along the street.) And look. Good God! A happy one! Faces. Crazy bumped and colored discs Bobbing, bobbing, Swimming, fading Like white fever specks I am one of them.

The rain is like laughter. The black devils of my brain Have leaped outside the window And are laughing at me.

Come, thief, an epic seethes within my brain I will condense it to a sigh And breathe it in your ear. Come to my arms, the mad words start There is a sonnet in my finger tips There is a lyric bursting from my heart I will condense them all into A single kiss upon your lips.

You shall stand on a rock in the darkness Naked and shining with beauty. And I shall sit by the water and gaze on you And as you come gliding through the mists, Struggling out of the night’s black mouth, I shall rush to you and embrace the moon. You shall lie on the rock like the crest of a wave White and vague in the distance. Your hair shall play over you like a sunbeam And as I come running to you I shall embrace the sea. You shall play on the wide sheets of sand Golden against the blue water paint Curling over the edge of the world And your arms shall beckon to me until I shall go mad And run to you to embrace the sun. You shall lie, a silver jewel in the ebony arms of shadows, Your breath stirring the white flowers of your bosom You shall lie in the velvet depths of silence Like a white stain on the night. You shall call to me and I shall bend over you, And that is all there is to life— I bending over you in the darkness.