Poem - “Beatific”

By Tracy K. Smith

I watch him bob across the intersection,

Squat legs bowed in black sweatpants.

–

I watch him smile at nobody, at our traffic

Stopped to accommodate his slow going.

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His arms churn the air. His comic jog

Carries him nowhere. But it is as if he hears

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A voice in our idling engines, calling him

Lithe, Swift, Prince of Creation. Every least leaf

–

Shivers in the sun, while we sit, bothered,

Late, captive to this thing commanding

–

Wait for this man. Wait for him.

–

“Beatific” from Wade in the Water. Copyright © 2018 by Tracy K. Smith. Reprinted with permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN, graywolfpress.org.