Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Lines for Winter

I am new to Mark Strand. But I love him nonetheless. This, for example:


Tell yourself
as it gets cold and gray falls from the air
that you will go on
walking, hearing
the same tune no matter where
you find yourself—
inside the dome of dark
or under the cracking white
of the moon's gaze in a valley of snow.
Tonight as it gets cold
tell yourself
what you know which is nothing
but the tune your bones play
as you keep going. And you will be able
for once to lie down under the small fire
of winter stars.
And if it happens that you cannot
go on or turn back
and you find yourself
where you will be at the end,
tell yourself
in that final flowing of cold through your limbs
that you love what you are.
 
-- Mark Strand

3 comments:

Moonboots said...

Love this. I think it has immediately become my favourite all time poem. Thank you for sharing.

Katherine C. James said...

Love Strand's Lines for Winter. I posted the last seven lines of it, beginning with, "And if it happens that you cannot…" with my day 335 selfie, and added a link to the whole poem. I got the feeling some people found it bleak. I find it beautiful and optimistic. Death is a part of life; how wonderful to be able to say at the end of life that I love myself. xo.

Gerry Snape said...

the poet of the moment...I love how he wrote of everyday life with such tenderness.