I know what I see

Gerald Brennan—composer, pianist, singer
Patrick O’Neill – lyricist

The American poet Patrick O’Neill is a great and uncompromising original in the world of modern poetry. He is not the most lyrical, however. But one day I ran across this poem of his and the music wrote itself. Like so much of O’Neill’s work, I don’t know what the poem is about, I only know what I feel it’s about, and that feeling runs deep. That’s his magic.

And I know what I see:
there are no clouds left after you are dying.

Is a turning venture,
lying here,
through you here,
a thing of life?
Or the whimper of desire’s hidden strife?

And I know what I see:
there are no tears left after you are dying.

Perhaps orange on a stormcloud
or one’s totem crying pain,
and all by yourself you become a crowd,

and I know what I see:
there is no human heart after you are dying.

Brisk,
a leafy wind singing to you from these flats,
distant your best friend,
and mortality, a trap.

And I know what I see:
’cause when I look it seems I have been crying.

Since the light in life has died,
and I had known what was seen
we never would be crying.

And I know what I see:
saw you running from me first instead of dying.

— Patrick O’Neill