home to the city

I feel delicate as paper
when all I want to do
is disintegrate

turn into soil
and birth a ripe flower

the kind that could feed
the ravaged, shirtless man
lying flat on the corner.

Samurai Song

When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.

When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.


When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.


When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.


When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.


When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.


Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep.



                                    -Robert Pinsky