By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
This handwritten-title variant of The Loss of Quest turns the exhaustion of the earlier draft toward street life, a river scene, American woodsmen, huntedness, and the choice to join or remain wordless.
The page broadens private loss into a public pursuit. Preserving 'abouts' and 'then' keeps the rough typewritten surface intact.
A handwritten-title variant of 'The Loss of Quest' that turns private exhaustion into a hunted public scene. It restates the refrain -- 'I don't care about the sunlight / I do not care abouts the dawn ... Yet nothing better then gone' -- and 'I can not do anything I want / And either can you.' Walking away 'Alone in the sunlight / Makes you feel good,' joined by 'Street girl and street / guy too' at 'A place by the wonderful river.' Then the threat: 'American woodsmen will come to / hunt you down,' and the verdict, 'Yes you are lost / Join, or don't, say a word.' Source spellings ('abouts,' 'then') are kept.