Maybe love is the Lord’s trap.
Maybe He sees us as
the tree leaning over the stream.
Perhaps He can’t experience
the difference between
our pain,
our loneliness,
and the heron flying
through the special silence at evening.
— Linda Gregg, closing lines to “The Center of Intent,” from Things and Flesh
Linda Gregg, 71, is an American poet born in Suffern, NY. She grew up in Marin County, California. Her first book of poems, Too Bright to See, was published in 1981. Her published books include Things and Flesh, Chosen By The Lion, The Sacraments of Desire, Alma, Too Bright to See, In the Middle Distance, and All of it Singing. Her poems have also appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Ploughshares, The New Yorker, the Paris Review, the Kenyon Review, and the Atlantic Monthly. She taught poetry at various schools and universities across the U.S. She has been living in New York City since 2006.
Source: Poem – Thank you A Poet Reflects. Photograph: Thank you Amy Buxton
“…the special silence at evening.” Such a perfect description of that time around dusk when every creature begins to gently make its way home. I watched a blue heron lift off from a nearby marsh the other day and was completely transfixed. This bird that looks so ungainly on the ground–a mad collection of spindly legs and too-long wings–suddenly became a graceful, elegant dancer climbing through the sky with a few, seemingly effortless beats of its wings. It was mesmerizing…
And this my dear friend is why you write…your description touched me more than the poem (and the poem was pretty darn fantastic)
EXACTLY
Awwww, thank you!! 🙂 you have made my day…..xoxoxo, l
it is all one.
Yes…
Yet we think we are so special
True.
Truly beautiful, words and image!
It is Susan. I was moved by both.
David, I am touched by your choice of both poem and image. Both are fragile yet powerful. Because of your post, I want to read more of Linda Gregg’s work and I definitely will find out more about that photographer. Thank you!
Thank you Mona. I was moved by both. Let me know what you think of Linda Gregg’s work. I cannot buy another book to sit unread of my 3 foot stack.