Sunday, February 1, 2009

Poetry Reading

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FOURTH ANNUAL BLOGGERS ( silent)
xxxxxx POETRY READING
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X
THE FIRST NIGHT
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by
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BILLY COLLINS
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"The worst thing about death is the first night".
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Juan Ramon Jimenez

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Before I opened you, Jimenez,
it never occured to me that day and night
would continue to circle each other in the ring of death,
x
but now you have me wondering
if there will also be a sun and a moon
and will the dead gather to watch them rise and set
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then repair, each soul alone,
to some ghastly equivalent of a bed.
Or will the first night be the only night,
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a darkness for which we have no other name?
How feeble our vocabulary in the face of death.
How impossible to write it down.
x
This is where language will stop,
the horse we have ridden all our lives
rearing up at the edge of a dizzying cliff.
x
The word that was in the beginning
and the word that was made flesh-
those and all the other words will cease.
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Even now, reading you on this trellised porch,
how can I describe a sun that will shine after death?
But it is enough to frighten me
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into paying more attention to the world's day-moon,
to sunlight bright on water
or fragmented in a grove of trees
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and to look more closely here at these small leaves,
these sentinal thorns,
whose employment it is to guard the rose.
x
x

xx



12 comments:

Laura Doyle said...

Now THAT was a poem. Very rich and yet very bleak. Perfect balance. : )

Marti said...

*sigh

beautiful

Anonymous said...

Brilliant.

Anonymous said...

Starlene-
Thank you..I'm in love with it!


Marti-
Indeed...thank you..


Clay-
It's a gem...thanks...

Tess Kincaid said...

Billy Collins is the best, isn't he? I love this one, especially that last line.

Anonymous said...

Willow-
The last line, yes..that's what we can do, guard the rose!
Thank you..

sribbler said...

"The worst thing about death is the first night"... lovable quote

Anonymous said...

Justin Manas-
Thanks for stopping by.

? said...

This characterizes very strikingly and I have taken counsel.

Anonymous said...

The End-
Thanks for your comment!

A Cuban In London said...

What a beautiful poem! To me death is the continuation of my journey with a different driver. Many thanks.

Greetings from London.

Anonymous said...

A Cuban-
I just love your vision, a different driver...maybe a familiar face? And on and on...

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