The Goal

I can´t leave my house

or answer the phone.

I´m going down again

but feeling no pain.

And that´s the great change

and mercy to boot ---

the enemy´s dead

and I don´t have to shoot.

But as for the fall:

it was writ long ago

and I can´t stop it now ---

I´m rain and I´m snow.

And I settle at last

on the ground of my soul

in shapes of the past

and shapes that unfold.

I sit in my chair

and I look at the street --

the enemy´s gone

and his absence is sweet!

I move with the leaves

I shine with the chrome

I´m almost alive

I´m almost at home.

But please do not follow

I´ve nothing to teach:

except that the goal

falls short of the reach.