LANDSCAPE

by Laura Jensen

Nothing can oppose the cloud.
Nothing can oppose the gray
that sponges up the rust
off the old grass,
unless it is the stone
of its own color
in the tower
where the windows webbed over
are less open than its padlocked door.

It is not the gray birds
it is not the talons of birds
it is not the weather
or the trees that play dead
or the gray eyes of an old woman
or the children who are watching the ground
for sticks.

See what is coming--
a landscape where we take in turn
what is bleak and empty.
You do not comprehend yourself
until someone steps to you,
grateful you are carrying that lantern.

(from Bad Boats, The Ecco Press, New York, 1977)

The above is one of my favorite poems; regardless of what else I read during the year, I always come back to this one. Enjoy! Karyn