W.S. Merwin
Please one more
kiss in the kitchen
before we turn the lights off
Merwin wrote this tiny poem immediately following the death of his wife. How simple of a desire...to experience this seemingly run of the mill, everyday occurrence once more. I envision this as an evening routine, a quick kiss before prepping the house for sleep. But in this case, I think that "turn the lights off" is more, so much more, than flipping a switch.
Those are the things, perhaps the tiniest of little things, that become what we want to feel just one more time after it's impossible to have them. The things that make our relationships so fully part of us and the things that represent how tinged our entire lives are with those we love. The things we barely notice as being beautiful and wonderful in their simplicity but pile up into stacks of moments that represent so fully those we are forced to leave. Perhaps they eventually become the memories that lighten the load as we go on. Yes, I think that's how it goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment