background image
between matter and principle 281
So that they fi nally see
The citizen, as he
Adjusts to the city's will
A stiff ening animal.
hap
a picture postcard to my own boyhood
There is containment by small
brown mountains, by the Channel
waters that run in upon
the shores and sleek and litter
the sand; the pale fi rm islands
shut in the swarming lights and
cross-moves of the Pacifi c --
as if a topographic
ordering of the desires
lay ready; in season, low
clouds will form, and, thunderless,
come in changing rapidly,
set loose their spattering rains
and sweep off , torn by short winds --
the diversity of shore,
hill, and gorge is clarifi ed
with stands of rough, bulbous oak,
a luminous sycamore
here and there, somberly thirst-
ing eucalyptus, mustard
washed yellow over the slopes --
nicely scaled for the human
eye, under a small soft sky
suggesting that, if you wished,