What is my Name?
What is my name? My name is Sleep-all-night Oblivious of the battering wind, the moon With its shrill flood of silver. The house rattles; I rattle too, but sleep; or wake, and say `Only the wind: it loves us. Sleep. And soon It will be light.'
What is my name? My name is Go-to-Hell. I say it to my enemies and friends, Or sing it chuckling. Ever since I woke Wet and alone at night, and clutched the cot, I've waited for a dampness at the end, Nurses, and rising chill.
What is my name? My name is I-don't-care. I did. I picked up litter from the street. Now someone tips up dustbins, while the earth Goes dark each evening, wobbling on its path. I feel the mud like cushions with my feet. I taste the greasy air.
What is my name? My name is Praise-the-Lord. Thankfulness steams from puddles. Happiness Evaporates along the sodden grass.
The fields expose themselves, the morning melts. Purple and white and gold the crocuses Unlace, relax.
What is my name? My name is Come-to-Grief. What is my name? My name is Born-again. Each morning a renewal of my life.
Each evening crumbling, dry and leathery.
Each April, look, a leaf. Each winter, winter.
Laurence Lerner
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