The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 12/11/09

"Weathering"

I am old enough now for a tree
once planted, knee high, to have grown to be
twenty times me,

and to have seen babies marry, and heroes grow deaf--
but that's enough meaning-of-life.
It's living through time we ought to be connoisseurs of.

From wearing a face all this time, I am made aware
of the maps faces are, of the inside wear and tear.
I take to faces that have come far.

In my father's carved face, the bright eye
he sometimes would look out of, seeing a long way
through all the tree-rings of his history.

I am awed by how things weather: an oak mantel
in the house in Spain, fingered to a sheen,
the marks of hands leaned into the lintel,

the tokens in the drawer I sometimes touch--
a crystal lived-in on a trip, the watch
my father's wrist wore to a thin gold sandwich.

It is an equilibrium
that breasts the cresting seasons but still stays calm
and keeps warm. It deserves a good name.

Weathering. Patina, gloss, and whorl.
The trunk of an almond tree, gnarled but still fruitful.
Weathering is what I would like to do well.

-Alastair Reid

What a perfect poem for today! I think I'm going to be thinking about it all day. Thanks for posting!

Senator Kerry is something that definitely grows better with maturation. :-)

Have a luster to them that can only come with time and living life the right way.

... for inspiration, for knowing how to live. :loveya:

thanks :donut:

It's JK's birthday; posting a birthday poem for him has become a tradition for me.

Ah, this is wonderful!

So full of great images and feelings...

Something you can really get your mind around...

Thank you!

And......Happy Birthday to John Kerry!