Fire King

 

       —O tempestuous.
Sugar bread. Sweet crab. What
ever is the matter?
                                    —A wet
       hiss. A red kiss. I am less
and less of what . . . I am not
        what I was or will. I happen.

       I have caught. O white
note. O hot weight.
                                    —I thought I knew.
I thought I would just know. You
       are more than I would have thought
      I could.
                       —I got up. I was full
of light and shade and grew

aware. I wanted to look
       down the hall, and went, and turned
away, and could not speak.
       (What would one say? “I burn
to be”?) A coal shifted and broke;
       I went in to look. I was all

       I saw. I got up and went down
       the hall. That is how
I am. A bit of weather.
                                    —I
       thought I would know—I don’t know
how one could. You are my
one yes. You are my own eyes.