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Love After Love

Jessica sent me this poem a long time ago, and I keep it by my bed.  I feel like it's a promise I make to myself every day in Derek Walcott's words.

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Comments

Jessica said…
Yep - that still gets me.
April 6, 2010 at 11:34 AM
Briana said…
Beautiful images in this poem. I do believe that you have to make magic and love, they don't generally happen to you. If this poem is a positive influence for you, that's what matters. I likely need more poems in my life - I shall take your inspiration and find some worth reading.

hugs
April 6, 2010 at 11:37 PM
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