spacer 19
Poem of the Day | Top 30 | Poets | Shopping | Forums | Search | Comments
Today, on November 23rd, 2009, the site contains 196 poets, 8,692 poems and 7,660 comments.
Mark Strand - Lines For Winter

Tell yourself
as it gets cold and gray falls from the air
that you will go on
walking, hearing
the same tune no matter where
you find yourself --
inside the dome of dark
or under the cracking white
of the moon's gaze in a valley of snow.
Tonight as it gets cold
tell yourself
what you know which is nothing
but the tune your bones play
as you keep going.  And you will be able
for once to lie down under the small fire
of winter stars.
And if it happens that you cannot
go on or turn back and you find yourself
where you will be at the end,
tell yourself
in that final flowing of cold through your limbs
that you love what you are.

Added: on May 28th, 2005 at 3:48 PM | Viewed: 5864 times | Comments (9)


Lines For Winter - Comments and Information

Poet: Mark Strand
Poem: Lines For Winter

Poem of the Day on:
Jun 16 2004

Comment 9 of 9, added on April 30th, 2009 at 1:48 PM.

i think that this poem "lines for winter" is a good poem that explains how important it is to not get caught up with age and how the simplicity of life is just as important as not focusing on the complicaitions of death.

laura from United States
Comment 8 of 9, added on June 7th, 2005 at 9:57 AM.

i found myself thinking of Adrienne Rich's little known poem, "Song", while reading this...particularly the last stanza:
"If I'm lonely
it's with the rowboat ice-fast on the shore
in the last red light of the year
that knows what it is, that knows it's neither
ice nor mud nor winter light
but wood, with a gift for burning"

Rah from United States
Comment 7 of 9, added on May 28th, 2005 at 3:48 PM.

a great poem about asserting self-belief in the face of adversity and then death.

Stan from United Kingdom

Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Lines For Winter, has received 9 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Mark Strand with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!

Poem Info

Strand Info
Copyright © 2003-2009 Gunnar Bengtsson, Poetry Connection. All Rights Reserved.
Forex Currency Trading | Online Slots