Well We Walked

By Jack Joseph Smith

Tieing up your shoes with the care given a parachute Or in the way of a boxer Not wanting the simplist flaw to be the cause of his downfall Balance then style then flight We know it yet can not believe it Retrieving what is left from the gilded Even though we had done it before After the Moon shot There are those left more alone than the event itself Watching with wretchedness our wildness and wilderness get lost
Losing even the names and written word of things and thoughts Daughter of God Name the flowers and plants in your front yard Medicine and poetry The height of the structure or over The height of the fencing Sky's of black against souls of white Floating out of film into a better dream Pain caused by good does not whither If not seen and worm eaten Still there is resource Call upon the definate Make your work a signature Pick up your pen and select nature
The daring tougher than a midnight bango Year after year the life I would not let go When with a touch I see emotion so quiet As the covers secure the children we charish, back when the silent seemed so innocent

Original Scan

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AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker compares tying shoes with preparing a parachute or boxer, then describes loneliness and lost wildness after the Moon shot. Naming plants and writing lead to a closing recollection of quiet emotion and covers securing the children we charish.

The speaker offers actions against the loss of names and written words: name the front-yard plants, make work a signature, and select nature with a pen. The poem gives no particular mission, household, or identity for Daughter of God.

Claude

Tying shoes 'with the care given a parachute' so that not even 'the simplist / flaw' brings a downfall leads to 'After the Moon shot', when some are 'left more alone / than the event itself'. The poem urges 'Name the flowers and plants' and 'Make your work a signature', and ends with covers that 'secure the children we charish, / back when the silent seemed so innocent'.

Care and balance are set against a sense of loss, and naming is offered as a remedy for what fades. The ending is domestic and tender, looking back to innocence without saying what changed; 'charish' and 'bango' are the typed spellings.