4.10.2023

if I had only shared The silences

I am not going to share 
Those high, those delicate 
Cheekbones with her. 
Nor the light feet I saw 
Walking beneath the long 
Stems, lovely of youth. 
 
I am not going to name 
The place where usual men 
Pronounced on her 
A heavy ritual stone. 
They were all right, those men. 
They didn't know. 
 
In a panic once, she blurted 
She loved me, and I had 
Too much to say. 
If I had only shared 
The silences, she would 
Have been all right. 
 
But, no, I had to intone 
A long harangue about 
The this, the that. 
Now this and that are gone, 
And the high delicate 
Bones are gone. 
 
Light feet I saw walking 
Bewildered by long stems, 
She walked away. 
And still I sit here talking. 
And I still have, it seems, 
The east wind to say. 
 
[James Wright {1927-1980} 'This and That', from Above the River]

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