Willis Barnstone





God They made me. Gave me a white hippy beard And my throat sang A loud cuckoo and the godly nightingale And they heard. I was a star In the morning of their book, A fly at noon, A beast in their chest, angel in their ribs, A purple hat. I was king, Sun, frog, a lily that lived In the winter, They wouldn’t let me die amid the murder From the clocks. I was a bell, A cowbell and clavier. At dawn My whole light Woke the bubble of the earth, burned its edge, Blew me inside! They made me And unmade me. My best friends Left. I hang Around the old neighborhood, lonely man Behind the times. My good friends Suffer for truth. I was their face, Their joyful lie. They need me. I make their day ridiculous And cast them Alone in the dark I was a morning star. Now I’m nothing. Zero. They’ve got nothing like me. Before I left I made light.