Burial Song

My body ran on its legs and waved its hands,

Dug holes, cracked wood. It leaped into water,

Leaped out again, made fire, flinched from fire.

It climbed over rocks and hurried from one place to

another

And came back to its beginning, aiming its empty ears

And eyes into the four mouths of the wind.

My body carried another body into the woods,

Forgot itself, found itself, lost itself.

Now it lies still. Children may tease it with sticks

Or women call to it, laughing behind their fingers,

Or men challenge it with their proud crowing,

But it wants nothing from them and will not move.

Its hands stay where they belong-together-

Its eyes shut, its heels not rising or dragging,

And its mouth keeping a cold council.

My body has stopped. Now yours will go forward,

But mine will stay in this Now, exactly here.

Tomorrow it will seem far behind you.

Though you squint till you weep, you will not see it

Nor will Hawk from the edge of his cloud

Nor will Owl see it in this different darkness.

Yet it will lie in wait for you to remember

Like a dream stiffened with danger.