There was a moment
when the boy had glimpsed
an auto wreck
in the rain, in the night,
when he heard a gunshot
in the middle of the night,
when he woke to a rat
crawling on his body.
(The novelist had set out
to write his masterpiece
and when he reached the finish
realized the beginning was all wrong, and
began the piece again.
This continued
for the rest of his life.)
There was a moment
when the sun split the clouds
in a Renaissance sky
and a great beauty
turned and smiled.