2.06.2023

by what miracle

We two are left: 
I with small grace reveal 
distaste and bitterness; 
you with small patience 
take my hands; 
though effortless, 
you scald their weight 
as a bowl, lined with embers, 
wherein droop 
great petals of white rose, 
forced by the heat 
too soon to break. 
 
We two are left: 
as a blank wall, the world, 
earth and the men who talk, 
saying their space of life 
is good and gracious, 
with eyes blank 
as that blank surface 
their ignorance mistakes 
for final shelter 
and a resting-place. 
 
We two remain: 
yet by what miracle, 
searching within the tangles of my brain, 
I ask again, 
have we two met within 
this maze of dædal paths 
in-wound mid grievous stone, 
where once I stood alone? 
 
[H.D. {Hilda Doolittle} {1886-1961}, 'We Two' - from the public domain]
 
Listen to it here

No comments:

Post a Comment