Sit. Feast on your life.

Posted on by Live & Learn

Derek Walcott

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 have 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.

~ Derek Walcott, Love After Love

Derek Alton Walcott, 83, was born in Saint Lucia in the West Indies.  He is a poet and playwright who received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He is currently Professor of poetry at the University of Essex in the U.K. In addition to having won the Nobel, Walcott has won many literary awards over the course of his career including an Obie Award in 1971, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award, a Royal Society of Literature Award, the Queen’s Medal for Poetry.  (Source: Wiki)

Photograph of Derek Walcott (in 2003) by Richard Avedon. Poem Source: journalofanobody

30 thoughts on “Sit. Feast on your life.”

  1. Wonderful! Brings to mind the Buddha quote, “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” A potent reminder of a powerful truth…

  2. One of my favorite poems (and may even have posted it myself at some point)…I wonder how our days would begin if we read this with our daily morning coffee.

      1. You’re blog is always so inspiring David! It’s a joy to share..

  11. Meet your self each day with a smile
    remember who you are
    recall what you want to be
    anything better from present
    or different from past
    leave only evil
    carry goodness with you
    after the life’s sunset
    when darkness prevails
    light up your heart
    it will glow and lead the way
    to erternal happiness
    the journey now begins 🙂

  12. I subscribe to Panhala and today I received the simple yet profound poem, Love after love, by Derek Walcott. In searching for it elsewhere I came across your blog posting of it. Having also spent some time in beautiful BC, and after reading more about you, I thought you might like my blog post and poem: Two kinds of knowledge about living and learning http://wp.me/pD0BA-8sc.

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