Psalm I

MICHAEL BENEDIKT

FOUR PSALMS

In Memory of Henry Rago, 1915-1969

PSALM I

Everybody has one thing about themselves. What thing? What-

ever it is, there is only one ofthem. Everybody is running up a

flag on which some Betsy Ross of the soul has embroidered a

picture of himself or a graph of his brain-waves with perma-

nent pleats

To come out, it is necessary to select out all other things.

Nonetheless our atoms are entangled, our flesh is similar, also our

joy and pain are the same, and this inclines me to gentleness.

Besides that, I carry the flag of the salamander, the leaf, and the

newt.

In my pocket, where the polaroid photo my mother made of me

used to be, I carry a picture of empty space, and of the water's

edge