Te Deum
Lord
sho been good to me
My loved hoe handle, and my sweat,
heart pounding and the towhee singing.
Jill, jerking the hospital sheets,
“Damn careless nurses ...
“But golly ... a good life.
“That student who kept writing me.
“That rainy picnic by a road in Burgundy.
“Heart thumping, thumping on ... more, more....”
A squirrel on a post.
The nutgrooved skull
drops; he claws the dirt.
Next winter!
Frost thrown down,
a stiffened morning,
a harsh corrective herb
to gnaw, take in.
Sho been, Lord, Sho been
Whether born of kiss sublime,
victim’s terror, rapist crime, and
however ending,
nut-gnawers nulled
inscrutably, or
Caesars,
soldiers, friends
lammed open-eyed —
Lord, good...sho been
Notes:
This poem is part of a special section of Poetry magazine's May issue
Copyright Credit: Eleanor Ross Taylor, "Te Deum" from Captive Voices. Copyright © 2009 by Eleanor Ross Taylor. Reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press.
Source: Poetry (May 2010)