Tuesday Poem

Hymn
Jack Kerouac

And when you showed me Brooklyn Bridge
    in the morning
        Ah God,

And the people slipping on ice in the street
twice,
          twice,
                      two different people
                      came over, goin to work,
                      so earnest and tryful,
                      clutching their pitiful
                      morning Daily News
                      slip on the ice & fall
                      both inside 5 minutes
                      I cried and cried

That’s when you taught me tears, Ah
   God in the morning,
       Ah Thee

And me leaning on the lamppost wiping
eyes,
         eyes,
                       nobody’s know I cried
                       or woulda cared anyway
                       but O I saw my father
                       and my grandmother’s mother
                       and the long lines of chairs
                       and tear-sitters and dead,                        
                       Ah me, I knew God You
                       had better plans than that

So whatever plan you have for me
Splitter of majesty
Make it short
    brief
Make it snappy
    and bring me home to Eternal Mother
    today

At your service anyway,
    (and until)


from: Kerouac - Pomes All Sizes; City Lights Books, 1992