H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

RANDY ROARK

Henry VI, Part III (1590-1591)

But … we saw our sunshine made thy spring

And that thy summer bred us no increase…. II.ii.163-164

As a swan, evenly matched,

swims against the current,

neither conquered nor conqueror,

the inevitability of losing,

in the days, months, years

I have left of what this is.

Even a marble hand

wears out after almost

sixty years of rain.

All the hours I’ve spent

on a body of work, that’s

now the shadow of a life,

that will be crossed-out

by whatever comes next,

not even slowing the tide.

[Excerpt from The Shakespeare Poems by Randy Roark. Originally published in NHS 2012, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs12/.]