IMPERFECT Comments

Imperfect is the summit
Yves Bonnefoy
1. Presence
(Stockholm, October 3-21, 1997)

From where did you come
from where did I come
from where did we come, my love,
in this garden of yellow maple leaves
in this evening that sticks to our feet
in this rain bursting forth
from a bygone age
in this chill that preceded the stars?
From the roots of tangled lanes
or the dumb night before creation
from the sea still dreaming of shells
or the word-like throb of life
first heard from a glacier?
Was it lightning that carried you here or
the white stone's longing for heaven?
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