Having an Experience

As it turns out the last light the darkness
Blinks and nods. What so often happens
Is that the darkness nods. What so often happens
In the long day files past me, nodding
And shuffling. So often it happens that
Something that happened
Nods and falls over. Grinning and shuffling and
The thud as it falls. So often it happens that

The last light goes out, unacknowledged,
On a sidewalk, or when it turns out
I don't know the man, or I forgot my bus.
The last light goes out when it turns out
I don't know the man, or something else.
The last light goes out when it turns out
That it so often happens, and not just this once.
The last light goes out when it turns out.

Look. I'm on a sidewalk. This is morning.
As it happens, a crowd is turning out.
The bed, the booth, the fire, the angel, the sidewalk.
The festival of redemption. Days of transfiguration.
Look! It is morning—the world is turning out.

As it turns out the last light the darkness
Blinks, reflecting what happens, what so often happens,
Or something else: a man, a crowd-scene, a bus.
The last light goes out when, upon reflection,
It just so happens, as the world is turning out.
By a strange coincidence, this is evening.
I turn out the lamp. I close my eyes. The darkness.
Listen! the thud as it falls.