| |
Near the dry river's water-mark we found
Your
brother Minnegan,
Flopped like a fish against the
muddy ground.
Beany, the kid whose yellow hair turns
green,
Told me to find you, even if the rain,
And
tell you he was drowned.
I hid behind the chassis
on the bank,
The wreck of someone's Ford:
I was
afraid to come and wake you drunk:
You told me once
the waking up was hard,
The daylight beating at you
like a board.
Blood in my stomach
sank.
Beside, you told him never to go
out
Along the river-side
Drinking and singing,
clattering about.
You might have thrown a rock at me
and cried
I was to blame, I let him fall in the
road
And pitch down on his side.
Well, I'll
get hell enough when I get home
For coming up this
far,
Leaving the note, and running as I came.
I'll
go and tell my father where you are.
You'd better go
find Minnegan before
Policemen hear and
come.
Beany went home, and I got sick and
ran,
You old son of a bitch.
You better hurry down
to Minnegan;
He's drunk or dying now, I don't know
which,
Rolled in the roots and garbage like a
fish,
The poor old man.
James
Wright
Read poems about / on: fish,
river,
running,
sick,
brother,
home,
son,
father,
rain,
hair,
green,
water,
fishing
|
|
User Rating: |
|
7.5 /10
(8 votes) |
|
|
|
James Wright 
Free Poetry E-Book: 31 poems of James
Wright
E-mail this poem to e friend