Derek Walcott, from Sea Grapes (1976):
"The Fist"
The fist clenched round my heart
loosens a little, and I gasp
brightness; but it tightens
again. When have I ever not loved
the pain of love? But this has moved
past love to mania. This has the strong
clench of the madman, this is
gripping the ledge of unreason, before
plunging howling into the abyss.
Hold hard then, heart. This way at least you live.
"Love After Love"
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self,
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart.
Take down the love-letters from the bookshelf
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
**************************
"Command If and Only If"
Catch your poison
Pick your prison
Give a person
Wonder whys.
If you tame them, they will take you.
If he hates you, promise lies.
If you name
the spot
the difference
I will give you
something more.
If he hates the spot
we gave him
We can simply
Shut the door.
Truth precedes you,
Love believes you,
You alone are something more.
Never knowing,
Always perfect,
You, my you,
you are adored.
**************************
Penelope Shuttle:
"Outgrown"
It is both sad and a relief to fold so carefully
her outgrown clothes and line up the little worn shoes
of childhood, so prudent, scuffed and particular.
It is both happy and horrible to send them galloping
back tappity-tap along the mist chill path into the past.
It is both a freedom and a prison, to be outgrown
by her as she towers over me as thin as a sequin
in her doc martens and her pretty skirt
because just as I work out how to be a mother
She stops being a child.
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