Just for the sake of contrast, here are 2 very early HG poems.



IF YOU COULD SEE THAT PORCH

If there is something blue
between a cloud and a painting
the full sense of a silent moment
appears suddenly like rain.
It goes over the land
it sings a tune you learned too
standing on the wet porch.
Little clowns in yellow raincoats
the laugh of a hidden yard
a girl in blue goes by
the big world raining
beyond the porch
in those yellow raincoats,
the things you always forget
because morning is full of birds.



WAILING WALL

"Build a wall of wisdom
for my fair daughter,
build an ark of gopherwood
upon the shimmering water.

"Fair as April sunlight
upon a dappled field,
she is my only pure delight,
wherein my heart is healed.

"Let the harp sing gladly,
let my voice be heard;
warrior kings of olden time
once hearkened to the word.

"Come out upon the meadow,
come, taste my only joy;
but do not touch my singing bird
or both of us shall die."

Walls wept for the tune;
a woman slept in the grave;
the sea cast up the gopherwood
upon a returning wave.