Sabbaths ~ 2000 ~ X
~ by Wendell Berry
1.
We follow the dead to their graves,
and our long love follows on
beyond, crying to them, not
“Come back!” but merely “Wait!”
In waking thoughts, in dreams
we follow after, calling, “Wait!
Listen! I am older now. I know
now how it was with you
when you were old and I
was only young. I am ready
now to accompany you
in your lonely fear.” And they
go on, one by one, as one
by one we go as they have gone.
2.
And yet we all are gathered
in this leftover love,
this longing become the measure
of a joy all mourners know.
An old man’s mind is a graveyard
where the dead arise.
From This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems by Wendell Berry, p. 215