Out at the end of a high promontory above the dim, oceanic prairie, we built a little fire for warmth. Who ever doubted that the earth fell from the sky? As though it had traveled a great distance to reach us and still could not reach us, though we held our hands out to it, some vague intention, some apprehension occurred between us. That night we slept in the snow by a half-frozen lake. I could smell the woodsmoke in your hair. We heard the earth cloud over, clear again, the low voltage of granite and ice, and everlastingness let fall the moment like a girl slipping out of her silk chemise. But forget all that. I wanted to tell you, the girl, that when I woke in the morning small frogs were singing from the lake as if we had become transparent in our sleep. 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...ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF AN UNFORTUNATE LADY by ALEXANDER POPE THE CARD-DEALER by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI IN MEMORIAM (EASTER 1915) by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS THE EUMENIDES: CHORUS by AESCHYLUS ADOLESCENCE by MAVIS CLARE BARNETT OF A WINNOWER OF WHEAT TO THE WINDS by JOACHIM DU BELLAY LIFE'S CURTAIN by EMMA MAGIN BISSELL |