A Hard & Noble Patience

There is a hard & noble patience
I admire in my friends who are dead
Though I admit there are none of them
I would change places with

For one thing look how poorly they dress

Only one is still beautiful
& that is because
She chose to drown herself in a Swiss lake
Fed by a glacier said in local myth
To be a pool of the gods

& when her body was found she was so
Preserved by the icy currents
That even her eyelashes seemed to quiver
Beneath my breath

Though that was only for an instant

Before she was strapped to a canvas stretcher
& loaded into a blue van
Soon I was the only person still standing
At the lake's edge   A man made lonely
By such beauty

A man with less than perfect faith in any god

--David St. John

  David St. John is a contemporary poet, living in Los Angeles and teaching at
the University of Southern Cal. He's won some decent-sized awards, though not 
alot of recognition, and he's one of the best less-known poets around. His 
books are "Hush", "The Shore", "No Heaven" (from which this poem is taken), 
"The Orange Piano", & some other limited-editions you can't find. You can also 
find him in all the years to date of "The Best American Poetry" anthology 
(which is really good). That's all folks...Cya.
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