La Vita Nuova by Weldon Kees
Last summer, in the blue heat, Over the beach, in the burning air, A legless beggar lurched on calloused fists To where I waited with the sun-dazed birds. He said, "The summer boils away. My life Joins to another life; this parched skin Dries and dies and flakes away, Becomes your costume when the torn leaves blow."
--Thus in the losing autumn, Over the streets, I now lurch Legless to your side and speak your name Under a gray sky ripped apart By thunder and the changing wind.
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