XLIII

What happened yesterday? a way of living,
a way of plunging reckless through the fires,

a way of waiting, “O, they’ll soon pass over,”
a way of thinking, “where is Phoebe, do you think, Amico,

that one was nearer us or nearer her?
we might have sent her overseas—

if anything should happen—”
the doorbell or the telephone? “O, it’s you,

we were just wondering—” “it’s all right,
the all-clear’s sounded somewhere.”

From Vale Ave by H. D. (New Directions Poetry Pamphlet #7, 2013). Reprinted by permission of The Schaffner Family Foundation and New Directions Publishing.