Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO SEE THE STARS IN DAYLIGHT, by JAMES GALVIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO SEE THE STARS IN DAYLIGHT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: You have to go down / in a deep mine-shaft or a well
Subject(s): Mines & Miners; Stars


You have to go down
in a deep mineshaft or a well,

down where you can imagine the incomparable
piety of the schoolbus,
the wherewithal of bees,

down where you can be a drawer full of dust
as night comes on under full sail,

and the smooth rain,
in its beautiful armor,
stands by forever.

I believe
there's a fiddle in the wings

whose music is full of holes
and principles beyond reason.
It binds our baleful human hearts

to wristwatches and planets,
it breaks into fragments which are not random.

The girl in the white dress kneels by the riverbank
and, like the willow, leans
and trails her fingers in the current.

She doesn't know about the damselfly, exquisitely blue,
that has fallen asleep on her pillow.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




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