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“Dream Song 61” by John Berryman 🇺🇸 (25 Oct 1914 – 7 Jan 1972)
Full moon. Our Narragansett gales subside
and the land is celebrating men of war
more or less, less or more.
In valleys, thin on headlands, narrow & wide
our targets rest. In us we trust. Far, near,
the bivouacs of fear
​
are solemn in the moon somewhere tonight,
in turning time. It’s late for gratitude,
an annual, rude
roar of a moment’s turkey’s ‘Thanks’. Bright & white
their ordered markers undulate away
awaiting no day.
​
Away from us, from Henry’s feel or fail,
campaigners lie with mouldered toes, disarmed,
out of order,
with whom we will one. The war is real,
and a sullen glory pauses over them harmed,
incident to murder.