Mark Strand(b. 1934)
XVI ("It is true, as someone has said, that in")
It is true, as s o m e o n e has said, that in
A world w i t h o u t h e a v e n all is farewell.2
W h e t h e r you w a v e your h a n d or not,
It is farewell, and if no tears c o m e to your eyes
It is still farewell, and if y o u pretend not to notice,
H a t i n g w h a t passes, it is still farewell.
Farewell no matter what. A n d the palms as they l e a n
Over the green, bright lagoon, and the pelicans
Diving, and t h e glistening bodies of bathers resting,
Are stages in an ultimate stillness, and the movement
Of sand, and of wind, and the secret m o v e s of the body
Are part of the s a m e , a simplicity that turns being
Into an occasion for mourning, or into an occasion
Worth celebrating, for what else does one do,
F e e l i n g t h e w e i g h t of the pelicans' wings,
T h e density of the palms' s h a d o w s , the cells that darken
T h e backs of bathers T h e s e are b e y o n d the distortions
Of chance, beyond the evasions of music. The end
Is enacted again and again. And we feel it
In the t e m p t a t i o n s of sleep, in the m o o n ' s ripening,
In the w i n e as it waits in the glass.