Light is Never a Metaphor

Ferry, Eminönü-Üsküdar, 5 January 2012
Via the New York Review of Books, "Shadow and Smoke" by Charles Wright:
Live your life as though you were already dead,
Che Guevara declared.
Okay, let’s see how that works.
Not much difference as far as I can see,
the earth the same Paradise
It’s always wanted to be,
Heaven as far away as before,
The clouds the same old movable gates since time began.
There is no circle, there is no sentiment to be broken.
There are only the songs of young men,
and the songs of old men,
Hoping for something else.
Disabuse them in their ignorance,
Lord,
tell them the shadows are already gone, the smoke
Already cleared,
tell them that light is never a metaphor.

Comments

Popular Posts