Friday, January 06, 2017

Lost Winter Seascape with Figures

"Once there was a world you could 
Hold in the palm of your hand,
And upon which the snow was 
Always just starting to fall--

World of a city that lay  
By a body of water  
Where people gathered to watch 
Ships set sail for other worlds.  

And high over the city  
At the edge of the water,  
Stood a great woman of stone 
Whose name no one remembers.  

Once there was a world you could 
Hold in the palm of your hand, 
And, by turning it over,  
Make the first soft snow swirl down  

On the lit houses of those  
Whose name no one remembers, 
But who, it seems now, must have 
Loved one another greatly.  

Why else would they have taken 
The trouble to put her there--
Stone woman who stood waiting 
For ships that never came back?"

- Joe Bolton, from 'American Variations'

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