Robert Bly's Near Perfect Book of Poetry, Part II

In an earlier post, I featured a couple of poems from Robert Bly's Silence in the Snowy Fields, which was reader selected for the Near Perfect Books of Poetry list. I've got one more poem that particularly grabbed me that I thought worth sharing:

-----------------Late At Night
----------During A Visit Of Friends

-----------------------------I
We spent all day fishing and talking.
At last, late at night, I sit at my desk alone.
And rise and walk out in the summery night.
A dark thing hopped near me in the grass.

----------------------------II
The trees were breathing, the windmill slowly pumped.
Overhead the rainclouds that rained on Ortonville
Covered half the stars.
The air was still cool from their rain.

----------------------------III
It is very late.
I am the only one awake.
Men and women I love are sleeping nearby.

----------------------------IV
The human face shines as it speaks of things
Near itself, thoughts full of dreams.
The human face shines like a dark sky
As it speaks of those things that oppress the living.

Robert Bly

If you'd like to hear Bly read some of his recent work, check out this site.



best,
Don