There was a carriage in the story and when it rumbled
over the cobblestones one caught a glimpse
of the gaslit face inside…

But the young men, after reading “The Dead”
by James Joyce, sauntered out of the classroom
and agreed: “it’s puerile, that’s what it is.”

Are there no more mothers who lie yellowing
in their gowns? Am I to insist, when I hate my desk,
my galoshed legs shoved in under, and all
Christmas dinners right down to eternity—?

When I was younger I wandered out to the highway
and saw a car with its windshield beautifully cracked.
The blood on the seat was so congealed
and there was so much of it. I described it to no one.

When I was younger I did not think
I would live to see the cremation of my youth,
then the hair on my arms went up in flames
along with my love for Nelson Giles.

Now I saunter out in the lamblike snow
where the black squirrels leap from bough
to bough, gobbling everything.

The snowflakes are pretty in a way.
The young men know that and compact them into balls.
When they hit my windshield I begin to laugh.

I think they are right after all:
there’s no love in this world

but it’s a beautiful place.
Let their daughters keep the diaries,
careful descriptions of boys in the dark.