You can't step into the same River even once, And why would you want to? You can't Lie down without turning your back On someone. The sun slips Like butter in a pan. The eastern sky arrives On the back stoop in its dark Suit. It draws itself up Full height to present its double Rainbow like an armful of flowers. @3Thank you, they're lovely@1. I step outside where the wind Lifts my hair and it's just Beginning to rain in the sun, And the earth silvers like a river We're in, I swear to God, And you can't step out of a river Either. Not once. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER' by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE OLD BRIDGE AT FLORENCE; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW EXTEMPORE EFFUSION UPON THE DEATH OF JAMES HOGG by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH FABLE: THE SNAIL AND THE GARDENER by NATHANIEL COTTON THE GIVEN HEART by ABRAHAM COWLEY |