It would not be an exaggeration to say that I have read this poem over a hundred times. I can see where each line spills into the next even with my eyes closed, can understand that these words lay bare the most basic elements of the human condition while at the same time tugging at an emotion so raw, so private and specific, that it seems they couldn't possibly make sense in the context of anyone's else's life.
It's the only poem I've ever memorized. One hundred times and it still makes me cry.
After Years
Ted Kooser
Today, from a distance, I saw you
walking away, and without a sound
the glittering face of a glacier
slid into the sea. An ancient oak
fell in the Cumberlands, holding only
a handful of leaves, and an old woman
scattering corn to her chickens looked up
for an instant. At the other side
of the galaxy a star thirty-five times
the size of our own sun exploded
and vanished, leaving a small green spot
on the astronomer's retina
as he stood in the great open dome
of my heart with no one to tell.
Ooh fun! Memorized poetry sharing! This is the only poem I've ever memorized. It is particularly helpful when things are going to shit.
ReplyDeleteInvictus by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.