Bear's Vision of St. Agnes

Barren rocks and sand, Bear & Fox held hands,

held like a timber hitch, held candles to the sun

Both faint and fading fast, they walked on, windward

kept time with a pocketmouse, mouths kept mostly shut

Thought broke the silence like a bone

“you’ve worn me like an albatross,

I’ve only slowed you down.

You could’ve long traded in your braided crown by now

you could’ve found that Anabaptist girl you always used

to go on about

As we rode in circles on our bicycles;

we walked on balance beams

the audience cheered for us

We burned like fevers under carriage hats

hid behind Venetian masks

In our human costumes

We stood like statues once in shepherd’s check

we’ll both be decked in herringbone,

wrapped border drab around already broken ironstone”

“But I’ve seen these cliffs before,

St. Agnes brought her palm branch to the hospital

looked upward lest the charm had fled

from my brother’s breathing bed

And when he died I shut his dogtooth violet eyes:

He looked just like me

climb on down and see

they laid him on the rocks below

there’ll be enough to fill your cup for days;

I’ll stay up here and rest.

[aside] We’ll fly in straight lines as from carronades

we’ll crash like tidal waves, decimate the islands

As our hollowed lumber falls like water, ends where I

start

In that tattered rag shop back in Asbury Park

Look how soon my hands won’t move

but if you’ll improve, we’ll all improve

Sixty feet and my feet won’t move

but if you’ll improve, we’ll all improve

Forty feet, my legs won’t move

but as you improve, we all improve

Fill our den with acorn mast,

I’ll wake before the salmon pass

Ten foot more and nothing moves”