The Hour

by Paul Blackburn (Nov 24, 1926–Sep 13, 1971)

Noon-and-a-half :
waiting to eat
we have sat on the stone bench in the sun for an hour
ignoring the time
except for the time of our bodies, our
hunger     .     We

sit here fixed,
driven back on ourselves,
                                     listening,
caught in the blue silence of this wind,
     hungering for that too
                                     after northern winter

listening to the warm gnawing in the stomach,
     the warm wind
through the blossoms blowing .