Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Barbara Lydecker CraneOctober 10, 2011

Where is a measured clarity?
I work, obsess, give up, despair—
not like the singing world in vernal

balance. If I possessed internal
equanimity, I’d keep
a steady state like equinox.

No overlooking, though, the shocks
that bracket equal day and night—
through droughts and quakes and hurricanes,

somehow resilient Earth maintains
its equilibrium, with time
and timeless, unknown sense.

The spring will play in plot and sequence—
snowdrop, crocus, tulip, lily—
allotted spaces, days to flower.

Winter doesn’t dint their power:
it allows it. Constant blooming
would fracture greater symmetry.

Daily roses would limit me,
as well. I’ll trust in wider arcs
circling into parity.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

I use a motorized wheelchair and communication device because of my disability, cerebral palsy. Parishes were not prepared to accommodate my needs nor were they always willing to recognize my abilities.
Margaret Anne Mary MooreNovember 22, 2024
Nicole Scherzinger as ‘Norma Desmond’ and Hannah Yun Chamberlain as ‘Young Norma’ in “Sunset Blvd” on Broadway at the St. James Theatre (photo: Marc Brenner).
Age and its relationship to stardom is the animating subject of “Sunset Blvd,” “Tammy Faye” and “Death Becomes Her.”
Rob Weinert-KendtNovember 22, 2024
What separates “Bonhoeffer” from the myriad instructive Holocaust biographies and melodramas is its timing.
John AndersonNovember 22, 2024
“Wicked” arrives on a whirlwind of eager (and anxious) anticipation among fans of the musical.
John DoughertyNovember 22, 2024