Monday Poem: The Almanac of Last Things

The Almanac of Last Things

 

From the almanac of last things
I choose the spider lily
for the grace of its brief
blossom, though I myself
fear brevity,

 

but I choose The Song of Songs
because the flesh
of those pomegranates
has survived
all the frost of dogma.

 

I choose January with its chill
lessons of patience and despair--and
August, too sun-struck for lessons.
I choose a thimbleful of red wine
to make my heart race,

 

then another to help me
sleep. From the almanac
of last things I choose you,
as I have done before.
And I choose evening

 

because the light clinging
to the window
is at its most reflective
just as it is ready
to go out.

 

~ Linda Pastan ~

 

(Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poems 1968-1998)