I was walking in a field of tall grass.
The flowering parts were bent—
The angle the angle
Between the bill and neck of a swan.
To my left was a sentry tower;
To my right was an expanse
Of purple-blossomed, purple-leaved
I've-forgotten-whats.
The purple pulled,
Though somewhere I knew
The air would be the same there
Except the heat more comforting,
The cool more refreshing,
For then I would be ready for comfort and refreshment.
I knew that sleep in the purple field
Would be so sweet and deep I'd die.
In the grass were ceramic tiles,
Square, sand-colored, in loose affiliation.
It was a dry place. Unseen insects made
a sound the sound
Of winding an old-fashioned watch.
The tower was constructed
From gray, pressure-treated lumber.
The guard was blurry.
The tower pulled,
Though somewhere I knew
To climb the makeshift ladder
Of X'd boards and sit down with
The sergeant over mint tea
And see the world through a wet glass,
Would be to live a little while longer
But also to die, perhaps in gunfire.
I collected some of the tiles and began to assemble
A crude house much too small for anyone to inhabit.
I glued the tiles together using tree sap. For windows
I just left out tiles.
I fashioned a roof from tree bark and ferns.
I found an old tractor wheel in the underbrush
And planted it a third of the way in the ground
And called it a water wheel, though it didn't turn
Or move water. The house was like most
Except without furniture or family. I took off the roof
And built a fire inside the great room
Which was the only room. The sap
Softened, and the house fell apart in
The way the way
A puzzle cube made of smaller cubes
Sometimes falls apart, many edges still touching.
Night was coming on,
Though maybe not,
Maybe just afternoon.
Somewhere I knew
There was a tall mountain nearby,
But I couldn't see it through the trees.
I broke one of the tiles over a mud-caked stone
And put the two roundest shards,
Which weren't so round, in my pocket.
I refused to look at the purple or the tower.
I kept walking and tried to remember the little
I knew about summits.