Near the dry river's water-mark we found <br />Your brother Minnegan, <br />Flopped like a fish against the muddy ground. <br />Beany, the kid whose yellow hair turns green, <br />Told me to find you, even if the rain, <br />And tell you he was drowned. <br /> <br />I hid behind the chassis on the bank, <br />The wreck of someone's Ford: <br />I was afraid to come and wake you drunk: <br />You told me once the waking up was hard, <br />The daylight beating at you like a board. <br />Blood in my stomach sank. <br /> <br />Beside, you told him never to go out <br />Along the river-side <br />Drinking and singing, clattering about. <br />You might have thrown a rock at me and cried <br />I was to blame, I let him fall in the road <br />And pitch down on his side. <br /> <br />Well, I'll get hell enough when I get home <br />For coming up this far, <br />Leaving the note, and running as I came. <br />I'll go and tell my father where you are. <br />You'd better go find Minnegan before <br />Policemen hear and come. <br /> <br />Beany went home, and I got sick and ran, <br />You old son of a bitch. <br />You better hurry down to Minnegan; <br />He's drunk or dying now, I don't know which, <br />Rolled in the roots and garbage like a fish, <br />The poor old man.<br /><br />James Arlington Wright<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-note-left-in-jimmy-leonard-s-shack/
