Harold Arnett + 

I leaned against the mantel, sick, sick, + 

Thinking of my failure, looking into the abysm, + 

Weak from the noon-day heat. + 

A church bell sounded mournfully far away, + 

I heard the cry of a baby, + 

And the coughing of John Yarnell, + 

Bed-ridden, feverish, feverish, dying, + 

Then the violent voice of my wife: + 

“Watch out, the potatoes are burning!” + 

I smelled them⁠ ⁠… then there was irresistible disgust. + 

I pulled the trigger⁠ ⁠… blackness⁠ ⁠… light⁠ ⁠… + 

Unspeakable regret⁠ ⁠… fumbling for the world again. + 

Too late! Thus I came here, + 

With lungs for breathing⁠ ⁠… one cannot breathe here with lungs, + 

Though one must breathe.⁠ ⁠… Of what use is it + 

To rid one’s self of the world, + 

When no soul may ever escape the eternal destiny of life? + 