Distinction

I can’t cry innocent in any court:
Dogged by enemies, I ran, was caught.
Pitched in a hole, my soul turned waste,
Heart hollow rock not even wind might whistle through.
Did darkness when the universe was torn from you
Into its being, long for nothing?

Hurry. Faces of the long departed, dim and empty
Peer up from the pit. I said, “The sun will rise tomorrow.
I will see it.” Will I? Keep me and my spirits spinning

Level at the rim until the hateful clatter echoless
Down their appointed slot. Then keep me longer:
No good likeness when I am not.