The Man Who Rode Away

Narrated by Charles Rammelkamp

Maryland

The Man Who Rode Away

(To D.H. Lawrence)

 

Above Taos now

I peer through the crack

of your locked door

Dead Lawrence

and there indeed I see

they’ve got you now at last

safely stashed away

locked away from the light

of your dear sun

in the weird great dark

of your little shuttered shrine

with the dark brown cover

of your old portable

clenched like a jaw upon

dumb keys

teeth sans tongue

as in a mute mask

of a Greek megaphone

Ah here’s real proof

the soul has its rages

dampered!

in darkness

shrine locked –

booby-trapped for burglars –

plumed serpent stoned

into a gargoyle!

 

Lawrence Lawrence bearded David

Phoenix flamed

out of a mine-=head

ash to ash

Sown in Venice

and resown in America (del norte)

Where now

here now

your portable seed

has blown away

Other seeds are growing

Not yours

Lawrence in the white sands

proving grounds!

 

Lawrence now I see you come alone

from your cribbed cabin

all fenced in the backyard compound

of that big caretaker’s house

 

You stand still a moment in the still air.

 

Your eyes have a Mexican look

turned South

over the arroyos

ahora y siempre

 

Winter is coming

You have your ticket

 

You have your blue denim jacket

 

You have your crazy Stetson

 

Your tin phoenix tacked to a tree

drops in a giftshop window

 

A mistral wind

rattles the pine needles

of your bones