If many remedies are prescribed for an illness, you may be certain that the illness has no cure.
A. P. CHEKHOV The Cherry Orchard
9 WOOD THRUSH
High on Nardil and June light
I wake at four,
waiting greedily for the first
note of the wood thrush. Easeful air
presses through the screen
with the wild, complex song
of the bird, and I am overcome
by ordinary contentment.
What hurt me so terribly
all my life until this moment?
How I love the small, swiftly
beating heart of the bird
singing in the great maples;
its bright, unequivocal eye.
---Jane Kenyon
3 comments:
I've always been amazed with the ease of a Jane Kenyon poem-- In this poem, "I am overcome // by ordinary contentment" and the wood thrush, singing, with "its bright, unequivocal eye."
As a writer she was drawn to the small things... Like Bishop, Dickinson, Stafford. And here she gives the readers a question to carry them the rest of their lives-- "What hurt me so terribly / all my life until this moment?" Yes.
I like this poem a lot, too! It is so peaceful.
Yes, Sam, yes, exactly.
Sheryl,
The is just the close of the poem, you should read the whole thing, it's a knock out.
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