japonisme: THE SHORTEST DAY

21 December 2007

THE SHORTEST DAY






PREMONITION AT TWILIGHT








The magpie in the Joshua tree
Has come to rest. Darkness collects,







And what I cannot hear or see,
Broken limbs, the curious bird,







Become in darkness darkness too.
I had been going when I heard







The sound of something called the night;
I had been going but I stopped










To see the bird restrain his flight.
The bird in place, the shadows dropped






As if they waited in the light
Before I came for centuries



For something I could never see;






And what it was became itself,
And then the bird, and then the tree;
And then the force behind the breeze
Became at last the whole of me.


Philip Levine

from On The Edge
© 1963

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1 Comments:

Blogger Diane Dehler said...

beautiful, dark glimmerings for a solstice post.

02 January, 2008 17:47  

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hi, and thanks so much for stopping by. i spend all too much time thinking my own thoughts about this stuff, so please tell me yours. i thrive on the exchange!

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