Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota

Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly, 

Asleep on the black trunk,

Blowing like a leaf in green shadow. 

Down the ravine behind the empty house, 

The cowbells follow one another 

Into the distances of the afternoon. 

To my right,

In a field of sunlight between two pines, 

The droppings of last year’s horses 

Blaze up into golden stones.

I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on. 

A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.

I have wasted my life.

~  James Wright

from Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose