John Berryman(1914–1972)
I ("Huffy Henry hid the day")
H u f f y Henry hid the day,
unappeasable Henry sulked.
I see his point,—a trying to put things over.
It was the thought that they thought
they could do it made Henry wicked & away.
But he should have come out and talked.
All the world like a woolen lover
once did seem on Henry's side.
T h e n came a departure,
Thereafter nothing fell out as it might or ought.
I don't see how Henry, pried
open for all the world to see, survived.
W h a t he has now to say is a long
wonder the world can bear & be.
O n c e in a sycamore I was glad
all at the top, and I sang.
Hard on the land wears the strong sea
and empty grows every bed.