Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Poem of the day (booklovers' edition)


An Afternoon In The Stacks

Closing the book, I find I have left my head
inside. It is dark in here, but the chapters openstack of books
their beautiful spaces and give a rustling sound,
words adjusting themselves to their meaning.
Long passages open at successive pages. An echo,
continuous from the title onward, hums
behind me. From in here, the world looms,
a jungle redeemed by these linked sentences
carved out when an author traveled and a reader
kept the way open. When this book ends
I will pull it inside-out like a sock
and throw it back in the library. But the rumor
of it will haunt all that follows in my life.
A candleflame in Tibet leans when I move.
- Mary Oliver
(via whiskey river)

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