An Upward Look
Oh heart green acre      sown with salt
by the departing      occupier
lay down your gallant      spears of wheat
Salt of the earth      each stellar pinch 
flung in blind      defiance backwards
now takes its toll      Up from his quieted
quarry the lover      colder and wiser
hauling himself      finds the world turning
toys triumphs      toxins into
this vast facility      the living come
dearest to die in      How did it happen
In bright alternation      minutely mirrored
Within the thinking      of each and every
mortal creature      halves of a clue
approach the earthlinghts      Morning star
evening star      salt of the sky
First the grave      dissolving into dawn
the the crucial      recrystallizing
from the inmost depths      of clear dark blue
James Merrill
 
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