A Hymn for Berryman

By Charles Ghigna Charles Ghigna

You marched into the gray eyes of dawn

feeling older than the bones

that held their ground

like grazing, aged cattle

waiting, eyes closed to the wind,

on a winter, slaughter morning.

You searched through the fog for a sign,

but there was no sun to burn the way,

no burst of rainbow bridge

to keep you from the cattle call.

Charles Ghigna, “A Hymn for Berryman” from Speaking in Tongues. Copyright © 1994 by Charles Ghigna. Reprinted by permission of Charles Ghigna.

Source: Speaking in Tongues (Livingston University Press, 1994)

Biography

Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) is the author of more than 5000 poems and 60 books of poetry for children and adults from Random House, Disney, Hyperion, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Abrams and other publishers. His books have been featured on ABC’s "Good Morning America," PBS, and NPR. His poems appear in hundreds of textbooks, anthologies, and magazines from the New Yorker and Harper's to Cricket and Highlights. His poems . . .

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