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PWB Peeps Open Thread: Poetry of Henderson [1]

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Date: 2023-05-12

From The Stone Age

by Alice Corbin Henderson (1881-1949)

Long ago some one carved me in the semblance of a god.

I have forgot now what god I was meant to represent.

I have no consciousness now but of stone, sunlight, and rain;

The sun baking my skin of stone, the wind lifting my hair;

The sun’s light is hot upon me,

The moon’s light is cool,

Casting a silver-laced pattern of light and dark

Over the planes of my body:

My thoughts now are the thoughts of a stone,

My substance now is the substance of life itself;

I have sunk deep into life as one sinks into sleep;

Life is above me, below me, around me,

Moving through my pores of stone—

It does not matter how small the space you pack life in,

That space is as big as the universe—

Space, volume, and the overtone of volume

Move through me like chords of music,

Like the taste of happiness in the throat,

Which you fear to lose, though it may choke you—

(In the cities this is not known,

For space there is emptiness,

And time is torment) . . . . .

Since I became a stone

I have no need to remember anything—

Everything is remembered for me;

I live and I think and I dream as a stone,

In the warm sunlight, in the grey rain;

All my surfaces are touched to softness

By the light fingers of the wind,

The slow dripping of rain:

My body retains only faintly the image

It was meant to represent,

I am more beautiful and less rigid,

I am a part of space,

Time has entered into me,

Life has passed through me—

What matter the name of the god I was meant to represent?

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on January 28, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.

PWBPeeps is a group that posts a daily diary and nightly open thread for animal lovers. We share photos, seek & give advice about pet health and behavior issues, support each other in times of sadness and stress, celebrate together when times are good, and on most days have an inordinate amount of fun.

You are welcome to join us!

Here are few not-too-onerous PWB rules

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