Poems for Shabbat XIV A

"What Does Poetry Save You From?" - Linda Pastan (1932- )

From the pale silence

of morning and the din

of afternoon.

From the flight into darkness

of those I continue

to love.

From my inarticulate body

and the syllables

that clog in my mouth.

From having to say

"nothing," when a stranger

asks me what I do.

From my worst sins.

From the failure

of any other absolution.

(found in Linda Pastan, Queen of a Rainy Country (2006))