Ill lay he long, upon this last return, <br />unvisited. The doctors put everything in the hospital <br />into reluctant Henry <br />and the nurses took it out & put it back, <br />smiling like fiends, with their eternal 'we.' <br />Henry did a slow burn, <br /> <br />collapsing his dialogue to their white ears <br />& shiny on the flanges. Sanka he drank <br />until his memories blurred <br />& Valerie was coming, lower he sank <br />and lovely. Teddy on his handlebars <br />perched, her. One word he heard <br /> <br />insistent his broad shortcomings, then lay still. <br />That middle-sized wild man was ill. <br />A hospital is where it all has a use, <br />so is a makar. . So is substantial God, <br />tuning in from abroad.<br /><br />John Berryman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dream-song-94-ill-lay-he-long-upon-this-last-ret/
