{"id":6141,"date":"2018-07-05T08:31:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T15:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=6141"},"modified":"2018-07-05T08:31:12","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T15:31:12","slug":"derek-walcott-love-after-love-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/05\/derek-walcott-love-after-love-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek Walcott – Love After Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love After Love
\nby Derek Walcott<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The time will come
\nwhen, with elation,
\nyou will greet yourself arriving
\nat your own door,
\nin your own mirror,
\nand each will smile at the other\u2019s welcome,<\/p>\n

and say, sit here. Eat.
\nYou will love again the stranger who was your self.
\nGive wine. Give bread.
\nGive back your heart
\nto itself, to the stranger who has loved you<\/p>\n

all your life, whom you ignored
\nfor another, who knows you by heart.
\nTake down the love letters from the bookshelf,<\/p>\n

the photographs, the desperate notes,
\npeel your own image from the mirror.
\nSit. Feast on your life.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words<\/a>, by Kim Rosen<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by vanillapearl<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I feel like a latecomer to Derek Walcott\u2019s poetry. I first discovered his writing just a few years ago. In fact, this was the first poem of his that I read. I found it in Saved by a Poem<\/i><\/a> (a book I highly recommend \u2014 a profound exploration of the many ways poetry can be a healing and transformative presence in our lives).<\/p>\n

There is always more wonderful poetry to discover and explore but, once found, I never want to rush through it, so I eagerly take slow steps\u2026<\/p>\n

The time will come
\nwhen, with elation,
\nyou will greet yourself arriving<\/i><\/p>\n

This is a magical moment, when we finally encounter ourselves\u2026 when we actually see through to something essential, when we see through to something that is what we really are.<\/p>\n

Most of the time I think we carry a reflexive fear of that meeting, so we tense up and expend a great deal of effort to avoid it. But Derek Walcott rightly says it is a moment of elation, one that inspires a deep smile and a profound sense of homecoming.<\/p>\n

and each will smile at the other\u2019s welcome,<\/p>\n

and say, sit here. Eat.
\nYou will love again the stranger who was your self.<\/i><\/p>\n

Is there more to say? Perhaps also a reminder to celebrate the journey that has brought us here\u2026<\/p>\n

Sit. Feast on your life.<\/i><\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Derek Walcott<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sea Grapes<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Poetry of Derek Wolcott 1948 \u2013 2013<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nOmeros<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nWhite Egrets: Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nCollected Poems 1948 \u2013 1984<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Derek<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nDerek Walcott<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

St. Lucia & UK (1930 \u2013 )
\nChristian<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

More poetry by Derek Walcott<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love After Love by 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\u2019s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1798],"class_list":["post-6141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-derek-walcott"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6141"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6142,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6141\/revisions\/6142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}