God, By JACK KEROUAC

In his jests serious, in his murders victim,

or which, is God? Who began

before non-existence’s dependence

on existence, Who came before

the chicken and the egg

Who started out

enormous Light

the dark brilliance of the Mystery

for all good hearts to shroud inside

and keep their understanding sympathy

intact as Beethoven’s courageous

slow sigh.

In his atrocities victim?

In his jests damned?

In his damnation damnation?

Or is God just the golden hover

light manifesting Mayakay

the illusion of the moon, branches

across the face of the moon?

O perturbing swttlontaggek

montiana godio

Thou high suffermaker!

Tell me now, in Your Poem!

From “Pomes All Sizes” (City Lights Books: $8.95; 204 pp.). The original manuscript of this almost completely unknown and unpublished book of poetry, written between 1954 and 1965, has been in the safekeeping of City Lights since Kerouac’s death in 1969. 1992 by John Sampas, Literary Representative.