1.
Far from the the sea from the sea
of Breton fishermen
the white clouds scudding
over Lowell
and the white birches the
bare white birches
along the blear night roads
flashing by in darkness
(where once he rode
in Pop’s old Plymouth)
and the birch white face
of a Merrimac madonna
shadowed in streetlight
by Merrimac’s shroudy waters
— a leaf blown
upon sea wind
out of Brittany
over endless oceans