Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Charles Simic

A Life of Fragments




Like a box of old photographs

Some of them already ripped in pieces

You found on the dump

And helped yourself to a few

While the wind swept the rest.



It was a cold blue autumn evening

As you laid them out on the table

In the kitchen and found a face

That reminded you of a girl

You once followed from school.



She never turned to look at you

Until now, that is, all smiles

With her eyes tightly closed

Because the sun was in them,

Or she was about to make a wish.





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2 comments:

sam of the ten thousand things said...

Such a wonderful ending.

Nick said...

The first strophe is exceptional in that it mimics the failing function of memory. So many "snapshots" of our lives are lost flapping in the wind.

Then S2 hones in on a memory that is brought to crystal clarity in S3, which is full of nuance. Amazing how you can't remember what you had for breakfast this morning. But how you can remember a moment that took place in the third grade with such vividness.