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Callalily

(14,889 posts)
5. Variations of the Word Sleep by Margaret Atwood
Thu Dec 28, 2017, 09:32 AM
Dec 2017

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.

I would like to watch you,
sleeping.
I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun and three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again and become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and as you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only.
I would like to be that unnoticed
and that necessary.

What is your favourite poem???? [View all] Soph0571 Dec 2017 OP
a Dog Named Beau...by Jimmy Stewart.. samnsara Dec 2017 #1
Current favorite: one from Naomi Shihab Nye, a prose poem mpcamb Dec 2017 #2
Just lovely. redwitch Dec 2017 #4
Naomi is a gem! LeftInTX Dec 2017 #43
For Then Xipe Totec Dec 2017 #3
Variations of the Word Sleep by Margaret Atwood Callalily Dec 2017 #5
Portrait d'une Femme -- Ezra Pound Zorro Dec 2017 #6
One of my favorites: Pendrench Dec 2017 #7
My two favorites are The Raven and The Wreck Of The Hesperus Floyd R. Turbo Dec 2017 #8
Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why) demmiblue Dec 2017 #9
"The Second Coming" malthaussen Dec 2017 #10
That's mine, too. It's kind of hair-raising. The Velveteen Ocelot Dec 2017 #21
Victor Hugo Evergreen Emerald Dec 2017 #11
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost spiderpig Dec 2017 #12
I like that one too n/t TexasBushwhacker Dec 2017 #38
It has a special meaning for me. spiderpig Dec 2017 #40
The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, TS Eliot... Wounded Bear Dec 2017 #13
Yes! Love Eliot KatyMan Dec 2017 #29
Love Eliot...my favorite is The Hallow Men Docreed2003 Dec 2017 #31
The Burning of the Leaves, Laurence Binyon sarge43 Dec 2017 #14
Not sure why this immediately popped into my mind as there are many, but here it is: elleng Dec 2017 #15
This one sticks with me. (Yeats, yearning, I think for his lost love.) Demoiselle Dec 2017 #16
Donald Trump Is An Ugly Dumb Phony red dog 1 Dec 2017 #17
Masterful!! kairos12 Dec 2017 #24
You're too kind red dog 1 Dec 2017 #41
Annabel Lee kairos12 Dec 2017 #18
Too many to list. GoneOffShore Dec 2017 #19
The Iliad shenmue Dec 2017 #20
Kipling - IF bluecollar2 Dec 2017 #22
To Those I Love Skittles Dec 2017 #23
Plath's Elm: "I am inhabited by a cry. Nightly it flaps out, looking, with its hooks..." NNadir Dec 2017 #25
simplistic, but I adore these handmade34 Dec 2017 #26
Rain, by Edward Thomas BeyondGeography Dec 2017 #27
Perhaps especially appropriate this week - The Cremation of Sam McGee sl8 Dec 2017 #28
Another favorite from Robert W. Service... SeattleVet Dec 2017 #37
Excellent, thank you! sl8 Dec 2017 #48
The Great Figure KatyMan Dec 2017 #30
Edgar Albert Guest left-of-center2012 Dec 2017 #32
To Autumn LWolf Dec 2017 #33
Ozymandias JustABozoOnThisBus Dec 2017 #34
One more Frost hermetic Dec 2017 #35
There Once Was a Hermit Named Dave. Sneederbunk Dec 2017 #36
There are too many to name, but here is one: panader0 Dec 2017 #39
Strange Meeting by Wilfred Owen SwissTony Dec 2017 #42
Poker Star - A Poem by Richard Brautigan red dog 1 Dec 2017 #44
Cow poetry DiverDave Dec 2017 #45
Lots, but here's one suitable for the time of year LeftishBrit Dec 2017 #46
That brings to mind a Dylan song_ mpcamb Dec 2017 #47
Evolution, by Langdon Smith SeattleVet Dec 2017 #49
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