Thursday, August 11, 2011

waiting as we do

i was a little boy
in wales
once
long ago

we had stopped at a village market
to buy bread and cheese and tomato
which we ate in our car

beside us
a hill
pulled back into the sky
so steeply
such a sharp ascent
and the wind
thin and pierced
with embroidered eyelets of rain
slanted sideways
as if
pushing
against my wish
to see the top

where i imagined myself
telling my daddy
that i had done it

i had climbed to the top

his wish
fulfilled


-


there's a tree walking around in the rain,
it rushes past us in the pouring grey.
it has an errand. it gathers life
out of the rain like a blackbird in an orchard.

when the rain stops so does the tree.
there it is, quiet on clear nights
waiting as we do for the moment
when the snowflakes blossom in space.

from: "the tree and the sky" tomas tranströmer





this was the day of my dad's birth so very long ago

5 comments:

Elisabeth said...

Anniversaries are so redolent of memories, Steven. They stir them up. Lovely words here, the child and the rain, especially when I've just been reading about the riots in England. Thanks.

Tess Kincaid said...

Wonderful memories, Steven. Don't we all want out children to climb to their own particular tops?

JJ Roa Rodriguez said...

nice post... yeah! it will be a victorious day for a father to see his child reach the top... love this one!

JJRod'z

Pauline said...

"embroidered eyelets of rain" is a beautiful way to say it

erin said...

steven, i don't know what to say other than this, in its simplicity and its depth, is so painfully beautiful to me. thank you. so glad you are in this world.

xo
erin