Photograph, John Bonanno 2007

St. Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire
Atrium and Pool, new gallery

Siste Viator, Spectara

All will be hidden before all is lost,
No metal machine can compute the cost,
But golden buds upon the snow,
Shall light that whitened night a-glow.

Like stars in the sea shall the demons be,
In negative twist for eternity,
Considering doctrine, discipline, law,
Based on the premise precluding flaw.

But I shall escape on the stony path,
'Though this will raise the demons' wrath,
And quicken the molten center of the Earth,
As a chick in an egg before its birth.

A man who sleeps in fits am I,
Who shall awaken when I die,
What comfort therefore can I give,
To one who merely wants to live?

John Bonanno, 1967