Twelve Hours Out of New York after Twenty Days at Sea
The sun always setting behind us.
I did not mean to come this far.
—baseball games on the radio
Commercials that turn your hair—
The last time I sailed this coast
Was nineteen forty-eight
Washing galley dishes
Reading Gide in French.
In the rucksack I’ve got three nata
Handaxes from central Japan;
The square blade found in China
All the way back to stone—
A novel by Kafu Nagai
About Geisha in nineteen-ten
With a long thing about gardens
And how they change through the year;
Azalea ought to be blooming
In the garden in Kyoto now.
Now we are north of Cape Hatteras
Tomorrow docking at eight.
mop the deck round the steering gear,
Pack your stuff and get paid.
By Gary Snyder
From No nature
Pantheon Books 1091
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