March 25, 2023

To Nazim Hikmet

It was either you or Li Po.
    another earth
This is
                another sky
No likeness
        To that human earth below?
I flipped a mental coin: you won….
Because to day and in this
Shabby new millennium
I need another kind of hero.

Last Summer, late, we were at Darthmouth.
Saw the great Orozco murals,
With Christ, great worker Christ,
Axe in mid air,
Cutting down His wooden cross.
I thought of you and eighteen years in prison
Because you loved the world
Because you loved the word
Because you loved the fact
Because you loved.