When you were small, your cupped palms
each held a candlesworth under the skin,
enough light to begin…
~ Carol Ann Duffy, from The Light Gatherer in “Collected Poems”
Notes:
Month by month
things are losing their hardness;
even my body now lets the light through;
my spine is soft like wax near the flame of the candle.
I dream; I dream.
~ Virginia Woolf, The Waves
Notes:
Even through curtains,
the sun will assert itself enough to soften a candle,
its warmth insistent as a kiss till the candle bends back.
We all fall under the spell of the sun
and are all at the end bent and consumed.
See how a long row of fence posts
leans over a deeply cut road
as if they’d been pushed by the light.
~ Ted Kooser, November. The Wheeling Year: A Poet’s Field Book
Photo: Beechwood by Heiko Fritz
As you prepare your breakfast, think of others
(do not forget the pigeon’s food).
As you wage your wars, think of others
(do not forget those who seek peace).
As you pay your water bill, think of others
(those who are nursed by clouds).
As you return home, to your home, think of others
(do not forget the people of the camps).
As you sleep and count the stars, think of others
(those who have nowhere to sleep).
As you express yourself in metaphor, think of others
(those who have lost the right to speak).
As you think of others far away, think of yourself
(say: If only I were a candle in the dark.)
— Mahmoud Darwish, “Think of Others”
Credits: Poem – The Journey of Words from Darwish’s book Almond Blossoms and Beyond. Photograph: bdak89
