Friday, May 9, 2014

Waving Goodbye

Snow is Fleeting (M.A Reilly, 2011)


Waving GoodbyeBy Gerald Stern

I wanted to know what it was like before we
had voices and before we had bare fingers and before we
had minds to move us through our actions
and tears to help us over our feelings,
so I drove my daughter through the snow to meet her friend
and filled her car with suitcases and hugged her
as an animal would, pressing my forehead against her,
walking in circles, moaning, touching her cheek,
and turned my head after them as an animal would,
watching helplessly as they drove over the ruts,
her smiling face and her small hand just visible
over the giant pillows and coat hangers
as they made their turn into the empty highway.
Gerald Stern, “Waving Goodbye” from This Time: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1979 by Gerald Stern. Reprinted with the permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. This selection may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

2 comments:

  1. Another moving poem.....thankyou

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    Replies
    1. Most welcome Catharine. Sorry but just seeing this ow. Posted when I was in Wales.

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