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Robert Bly

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Snowbanks North of the House

Those great sweeps of snow that stop suddenly six feet from
                  the house,
thoughts that go so far,
the boy gets out of high school and reads no more books,
the son stops calling home,
the mother sets down her rolling pin, and makes no more bread.
The wife looks at her husband one night at a party, and loves
                  him no more,
the energy leaves the wine, and the minister falls leaving
                  the church,
it will not come closer,
the one inside moves back, the hands touch nothing, and are safe.

The father grieves for his son, and will not leave the room
                  where the coffin stands,
he will not eat, he turns away from his wife, and she sleeps alone.

The sea lifts and falls all night, the moon goes on through the
                  unattached heavens alone,
the toe of the shoe pivots in the dust,
the man in the black coat turns and goes away down the hill, no one
                  sees him again, nor knows why he came or why he turned
                  away and did not climb the hill.

 

Page(s) 8

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