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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BENEDICTION, by TIMOTHY LIU Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What lies buried under six feet of snow | |||
What lies buried under six feet of snow waits to be found while a candle on the sill burns down, flame guttering over a pool of wax that hardens when an intimate mouth comes to extinguish it. How pages of a Bible keep turning in our sleep while children ascend the winding stair with prayers long forgotten. What lingers on in memory returns as a dream unscrolled, the images most dear to us nothing more than a blind flickering on an hourglass near empty. It is no wonder a candle burns perpetual behind our backs even as we stare out past a sea of snow where the voices of what we were converge with what we are -- incorruptible shadows that sink back down to the depths below. 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...SENRYU: BLIND DATE by TIMOTHY LIU READING WHITMAN IN A TOILET STALL by TIMOTHY LIU THE MARRIAGE (1) by TIMOTHY LIU |
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