BEGGAR

Joan of arc went to the tree,

Buddha to the tree,

Jesus to the water, the mount,
and finally
the tree,

Gandhi to the mountain,

Muhammad to the cave

The moral code is found within
the actions of the thing

Stillness is an action
not so much like watching

perhaps an action
against struggle
the mountain
not struggling
against struggle

I curl myself in the phosphorescence,
(w)retch against the predicament of life

The moral
code is found
within the actions
of survival

The tree values
height
and opening

The water,
transubstantiation
propelling itself
against stone,
to air,
the divine sublimation
of opposites

I gorge myself
on the depleting
blood
of helplessness

conquering
struggle
for struggle
over struggle,
gag
the thing
I am eating

I wonder
if I have not been jealous
at the ease
of nature?

Myself

Uninhabited

Insular

Obscure

the lone cry for salvation

accompanied now
becoming large
as the earth
begins to beg
with me