Man and Beast

When I was a child of four years

We lived in a trailer park set back off the highway
Hard by a wooded area in southeastern Wisconsin

Between Racine and Kenosha

One day I must have wandered off
For I remember my dad hearing my cries

And comforting my tears

When he found me standing alone
Crying in the middle of a frozen pond

I grew to become a timid child

Terrified of nature
Afraid of being left alone.

When I was an adolescent of seventeen

We lived in a big city
Hard by the mechanical violence of the streets

Between the nightmare and the dream

One day I suffered a terrible beating
For which no one would help me

And no one could comfort my pain

When they saw me lying alone
Crying in the middle of the schoolyard

I grew to become a frightened adult

Terrified of people and nature
Afraid of crowds and of being left alone

Then I became the old man

Living inside these memories
Softened by the timeless patterns

Between the lake and the forest

Today I saw a coyote snatch a cat
Hard by my neighbor's yard

Inside my reckoning of the past

Where I tally no relief from the
Places and the nature that cost its life