Bear's Vision of St. Agnes

Barren rocks and sand, Our wooden sculpture hands Held like a timber hitch, held candles to the sun Both faint and fading fast, they walked on, windward, kept time with a pocketmouse Mouths kept mostly shut [Bear] Thought broke our silence like a bone [Fox] (half-moaned) "You've worn me like an albatross, I've only slowed you down You could've long traded in your braided crown by now You could've found that Anabaptist girl you always used to go on about" [Bear] As we rode in circles on our bicycles, we walked on balance beams As the audience cheered for us. We burned like fevers under carriage hats Hid behind Venetian masks in our human costumes We stood like statues once in shepherd's check, we'll both be decked in herringbone Wrapped border drab around already broken ironstone." [Bear] "But I've seen these cliffs before, St. Agnes brought her palm branch To the hospital, looked upward lest the charm had fled from my brother's breathing bed And when he died I shut his dogtooth violet eyes: He looked just like me - climb on down and see They laid him on the rocks below, there'll be enough to fill your cup for days I'll stay up here and rest [Aside] We'll fly in straight lines as from carronades We'll crash like tidal waves, decimate the islands As our hollowed lumber falls like water, ends where I start In that tattered rag shop back in Asbury Park. Look how soon my hands won't move - but if you'll improve, we'll all improve Look how soon my arms won't move! Sixty feet and my feet won't move, but if you'll improve, we'll all improve Forty feet my legs won't move, as you improve we all improve Fill our den with acorn mast, I'll wake before the salmon pass Ten feet more and nothing moves."