Poem of the Week, by Derek Walcott

Love after Love
– Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here.  Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine.  Give bread.  Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit.  Feast on your life.


For more information on Derek Walcott, please click here: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/220

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Alison-McGhee/119862491361265?ref=ts

2 comments

  1. Lucy's avatar
    Lucy · July 30, 2011

    That’s at the beginning of ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’ (the book). It’s a wonderful one.

    Like

  2. Karen's avatar
    Karen · July 30, 2011

    You always choose wonderful poems! Thank you for sharing with us.

    Like

Leave a reply to Lucy Cancel reply