Friday, July 22, 2011

I Wish I'd Written This

Here is a very famous one by Galway Kinnell.

By Galway Kinnell 
 
For I can snore like a bullhorn
or play loud music
or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman
and Fergus will only sink deeper
into his dreamless sleep, which goes by all in one flash,   
but let there be that heavy breathing
or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house
and he will wrench himself awake
and make for it on the run—as now, we lie together,
after making love, quiet, touching along the length of our bodies,   
familiar touch of the long-married,
and he appears—in his baseball pajamas, it happens,
the neck opening so small he has to screw them on—
and flops down between us and hugs us and snuggles himself to sleep,
his face gleaming with satisfaction at being this very child.

In the half darkness we look at each other
and smile
and touch arms across this little, startlingly muscled body—
this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making,
sleeper only the mortal sounds can sing awake,
this blessing love gives again into our arms.
 
Galway Kinnell, “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps” from Three Books.
 
 

7 comments:

  1. very beautiful poem ,, i wish i wrote it too ;)

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  2. Oh this is very beautiful, and tender. I love the expression on the child's face "of being this very child." Just lovely.

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  3. Made me smile :)

    "this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making" Love this line!

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  4. I can totally relate to this... beautiful share and I am happy to part of this community ~

    Blessings ~

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  5. It is a strange thing. The text in this version of the poem differs from another version which has additional words

    " ... he appears - in his baseball pajamas, it happens,
    the neck opening so small
    he has to screw them on, which one day may make him wonder
    about the mental capacity of baseball players
    -
    and flops down ... "

    A bit of comic relief in this version. Both versions are great, but I like this line in there. Wonder if he decided to take it out for some reason?

    ReplyDelete

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