what calm or one clarity / can I not quite come to

"Hard"

Some souvenirs of the capital-h History part of my life. Hard reading, but good.

Jim Croce--"The Hard Way Every Time"

What words or harder gift
does the light require of me
carving from the dark
this difficult tree?

What place or farther peace
do I almost see
emerging from the night
and heart of me?

The sky whitens, goes on and on.
Fields wrinkle into rows
of cotton, go on and on.
Night like a fling of crows
disperses and is gone.

What song, what home,
what calm or one clarity
can I not quite come to,
never quite see:
this field, this sky, this tree.

[Christian Wiman, 'Hard Night' from Hard Night]