"Love Wants to Know How"
Autumn comes with its riot of death,
its clarion bells of color,
drives the living green to ground
even as it thins the veil between worlds.
The visible and invisible walk now together
with arms outstretched over fields
where workers hasten to the harvest
none may divide against itself.
So where are you in this?
How long do you loiter
between the said and unsaid,
the done and undone,
between the half and true rhyme
of a life answering a life?
Geese mark the sky with dark wedges,
call with harsh tongues
to what thrives at the margins
of all we so reluctantly receive.
Go now,
quickly and with great force,
toward what burns in your dreams
at the dying of the year.
Who can say?
Perhaps you reap the whirlwind,
perhaps the harvest--
but is it ever enough to not know
the bonds and bounds of what will one day
forsake you for the grave?
Anonymous
Poetry Friday is at Laura Purdie Salas' WRITING THE WORLD FOR KIDS. Head over there to read some poems from Laura's newest book (I can't wait to own this one!) and lots of other terrific offerings!
Hmm...I also have a "slowing down to breathe" poem today. Coincidence? I think not...
ReplyDeleteSending wishes for bits of calm and slow so that you can fully enjoy autumn!
It is so-o busy, I know. And then this poem pushes us to do, to go "quickly and with great force." It does fit our beginnings, and to me it's like an affirmation of it. Thanks, Carol, hope all is good in your busy life!
ReplyDeleteI am so with you about the beginning of the school year. And I love this poem. Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me so much of Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" - it's an urgent injunction to get going. So powerful.
ReplyDelete"riot of death" - wow!
ReplyDeleteAnd "Geese mark the sky with dark wedges" reminds me of a Barbara Juster Esbensen poem I love called "The Return" that includes:
And from the sky
A wedge of cry:
Returning geese in flight
Words like that so inspire me. Thanks!
Thank you, Carol, for sharing this poem today. The lines:
ReplyDelete"How long do you loiter
between the said and unsaid" - wow!
Wow - such a forceful, sharp poem; I love it. Thanks for sharing, and give yourself a pat on the back for slowing down long enough to appreciate and share this poem, with its fine lines (didn't mean to pun, but there it is).
ReplyDeleteToo bad it's anonymous - would love to know who wrote it!
I'm glad you have plenty of that "love, love, love" to temper some of that "hate, hate, hate," Carol! How can this poem possibly be anonymous? Just doesn't seem right.
ReplyDelete