Where I live distance is the primal fact The world is mostly far away and small Drifting along through cause and effect like sleep As when the distance unlikeliest of stems Bears the unlikely blossom of the wind Engendering our only weather dry Except in winter pine trees live on snow So greedy pulling down these drifts that bury The fences snap the trunks of smaller trees If the forest wants to go somewhere it spreads Like a prophecy its snow before it Technology a distant windy cause There is no philosophy of death where I live Only philosophies of suffering 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...THE PRETTY GIRL OF LOCH DAN by SAMUEL FERGUSON THE BATTLE OF LA PRAIRIE, 1691 by WILLIAM DOUW LIGHTHALL VENICE by JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS RED TREASURE by CAROLYN AUSTIN THE REQUEST. TO LOVE by PHILIP AYRES |