rude awakening
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the bells of the cathedral clang through the night
like faces in nursing home windows
and sink into the river
like black panthers into the green.
i crept by this music upon the waters,
up the cool stone face of the steeple
(where the rainwater had left stains running down),
placed one worn shoe on the summit,
and sprang open-armed into the night
to become a star twinkling in the water from which i came.
the bells of the cathedral clang the hours of my arc
like a metronome for unpracticed hands
and the green of the river
flows on to fairer, quieter lands.