Tiny Plastic Houses

Live in the Layers …

A poem I stumbled across today and typed here for your reading pleasure …

The Layers
by Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006)

I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.

When I looked behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.

In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
"Live in the layers,
not on the litter."

Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.

I am not done with my changes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 1:53 pm. It is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.