If only I could hold your face
If only I could wrap up the light in your eyes
and put it away
safekeeping
safekeeping
against mistaken words
against parting
old age
against all human loneliness
We say that love has no beginning and no end
We know such love
flowing out of itself like a river
that meets and parts and meets
It's for that love
our eyes shine
But oh for that time of parting
for that time we are not ever
sufficiently shored against
tell me how to hold that precious light
Take my hands and bless them
as they bless what they long to keep
If only I could wrap up the light in your eyes
and put it away
safekeeping
safekeeping
against mistaken words
against parting
old age
against all human loneliness
We say that love has no beginning and no end
We know such love
flowing out of itself like a river
that meets and parts and meets
It's for that love
our eyes shine
But oh for that time of parting
for that time we are not ever
sufficiently shored against
tell me how to hold that precious light
Take my hands and bless them
as they bless what they long to keep
Holding by Robert Grant Burns
The New Yorker, Dec. 18, 1971
That is a beautiful poem and so descriptive of the telling absence that we all feel.
ReplyDeleteI keep coming back to this poem and wonder at how beautifully the poet put what we all know and many fear. blessings on the journey Andy
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