62
PARTISAN REVIEW
So little Billie took his leave
And left his Mammy there to grieve
And left
his
Pappy
in
Old Kaintuck
And headed West to try his luck
And left the land between the rivers,
For it was Roll, Missouri,
It was Roll, roll, Missouri.
And he was gone nigh ten long year
And never sent word to give his Pappy cheer
Nor wet pen in ink for his Mammy dear.
For Little Billie never was much of a hand with a pen-staff.
(There is always another country and always another place.
There
is
always another name and another face.
And the name and the face are you, and you
The name and the face, and the stream you gaze into
Will show the adoring face, show the lips that lift to you
· As you lean with the implacable thirst of self,
As
you lean to the image which is yourself,
To set the lip to lip, fix eye on bulging eye,
To drink not of the stream but of your deep identity.
But water is water and it flows,
Under the image on the water the water coils and goes
And its own beginning and its end only the water knows.
There are many countries and rivers in them
-Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio, Colorado, Pecos, Little Big Horn.
And Roll, Missouri, roll.
But there is only water in them.
And
in
the new country and in the new place
The eyes of the new friend will reflect the new face
And
his
mouth
will
speak to frame
The syllables of the new name
And the name is you and is the agitation of the air
And is the wind and the wind runs and the wind is everywhere.
The name and the face are you.
The name and the face are always new
