for Gail
at 5 a.m. when I get out of bed in the dark the sun’s probably shining off new york city through a fog by the time I leave for town it’s yawning in its course across a continent of cold bedrooms and wet yards when it reaches the state I’m in I can tell it’s morning by the color of the sky spread out above the eastern road I’ve always said I’m never sad when the sun is shining but I ain’t saying that now
13 August 1974