It is not because we are going -- Though the sea may begin at the doorstep, though the highway May already have come to rest in our front rooms . . . It is because, beyond distance, or enterprise And beyond the lies and surprises of the wide and various worlds, Beyond the flower and the bird and the little boy with his large questions We notice our shadows: Going . . . -- slowly, but going, In slightly different directions -- Their speeds increasing -- Growing shorter, shorter As we enter the intolerable sunlight that never grows old or kind. 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...LETTERS TO DEAD IMAGISTS by CARL SANDBURG WHEN THE KYE CAME HOME by JAMES HOGG FOR THE PICTURE, 'THE LAST OF ENGLAND' by FORD MADOX BROWN AT THE MERMAID by ROBERT BROWNING SECOND BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 11 by THOMAS CAMPION LINES TO CONTENTMENT by GEORGE D. CRAIG |