Thin as a sheet his mother came to him <br />during the screaming evenings after he did it, <br />touched F.J.'s dead hand. <br />The parlour was dark, he was the first pall-bearer in, <br />he gave himself a dare & then did it, <br />the thing was quite unplanned, <br /> <br />riots for Henry the unstructured dead, <br />his older playmate fouled, reaching for him <br />and never will he be free <br />from the older boy who died by the cottonwood <br />& now is to be planted, wise & slim, <br />as part of Henry's history. <br /> <br />Christ waits. That boy was good beyond his years, <br />he served at Mass like Henry, he never did <br />one extreme thing wrong <br />but tender his cold hand, latent with Henry's fears <br />to Henry's shocking touch, whereat he fled <br />and woke screaming, young & strong.<br /><br />John Berryman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dream-song-129-thin-as-a-sheet-his-mother-came-t/
