III
                                                                                              and he was
                              full of joy for a minute, he could go
                              from sad to happy in only one fell swoop,
                              in one swell foop, or less, or versa visa
                              and it was the sun, or the wind, or it was a chemical
                              inside his heart or one of his brains or it was
                              seeing a river, in this case East, though seeing the
                              ocean, oh my, you know what death is? you know
                              what walking barefoot in the cold wet sand is,
                              you know what walking into the water is, now
                              think of salt, now think of riding a wave
                              and falling down at the end and holding your arms
                              in front of your head or scraping your elbows, and seeing
                              the plaster hotels, the minarets and palm trees
                              upside down, or sideways, finally turning them
                              right side up, the flags where they go, the flapping oh
                              as it should be, now think of two pelicans
                              thirty feet over your head, his head, now see
                              how graceful they are, and huge and strong and swift,  
                              and you will never again say “pelican,
                              his beak holds more than his belly can” and I. said
                              “swift,” he never said “swift” before—