[…] I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I was, though some principle of being abides, from which I struggle not to stray. When I look behind, as I am compelled to look before I can gather strength to proceed on my journey, I see the milestones dwindling toward the horizon and the slow fires trailing from the abandoned camp-sites, over which scavenger angels wheel on heavy wings. Oh, I have made myself a tribe out of my true affections, and my …read more […]

These days, it's any and all poems by the Russian master Osip Mandelstam, including... This This is what I most want unpursued, alone to reach beyond the light that I am furthest from. And for you to shine there- no other happiness- and learn, from starlight, what its fire might suggest. A star burns as a star, light becomes light, because our murmuring strengthens us, and warms the night. And I want to say to you my little one, whispering, I can only lift you towards the light by means of this babbling. A collection of his poems translated by Christian Wiman under the title "Stolen Air" is a jaw-dropping masterpiece. http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Air-Selected-Poems-Mandelstam/dp/0062099426