God bless Henry. He lived like a rat,
with a thatch of hair on his head
in the beginning.
Henry was not a coward. Much.
He never deserted anything; instead
he stuck, when things like pity were thinning.

So may be Henry was a human being.
Let’s investigate that.
… We did; okay.
He is a human American man.
That’s true. My lass is braking.
My brass is aching. Come & diminish me, & map my way.

God’s Henry’s enemy. We’re in business … Why,
what business must be clear.
A cornering.
I couldn’t feel more like it. .Mr. Bones,
as I look on the saffron sky,
you strikes me as ornery.

Analysis, meaning and summary of John Berryman's poem Dream Song 13: God bless Henry

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