The Wild Men

from "The Emergency Lane" by Dudley Saunders

babyboy
are you sleeping
have you heard
a word I've said
is your body
still a-breathing
can you live
this life we've led

I wish you were
a swallow flying
you'd fly this high
and lonesome place
and join your wild men
in their sighing
and linger in
their salty taste

on our sidewalk
in the summer
lies a man
a-baking slow
seeds and coins
fall from his slumber
his burning mother
holding close

I wish you were
a swallow flying
you'd fly this high
and lonesome place
and join your wild men
in their sighing
and linger in
their salty taste

I wish I were
a swallow flying
I'd find your high
and lonesome place
and join your wild men
in their sighing
and linger in
their salty taste