{ Adrienne Rich: Song. }

[delga]

Song
by Adrienne Rich

You're wondering if I'm lonely:
OK then, yes, I'm lonely
as a plane rides lonely and level
on its radio beam, aiming
across the Rockies
for the blue-strung aisles
of an airfield on the ocean.

You want to ask, am I lonely?
Well, of course, lonely
as a woman driving across country
day after day, leaving behind
mile after mile
little towns she might have stopped
and lived and died in, lonely

If I'm lonely
it must be the loneliness
of waking first, of breathing
dawn's first cold breath on the city
of being the one awake
in a house wrapped in sleep

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.

--

With thanks to twincy, I knew her well. Today we have spammed it up old school which, oddly, makes me nostalgic for... elephants. Yeah, I don't know either.

Comments

[twincy.livejournal.com]

"Nostalgic for Elephants" sounds like a particularly insufferable indie band.

But yes. I don't have to tell you how much I love this, do I? Fuck it, I will anyway: I LOVE THIS AS IF IT IS A PART OF ME. Which it very well might be, I've read it that often.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

HOW DARE YOU. Nostalgic for Elephants is my insufferable indie band!

No, that was pre-emptively covered, I'm sure. But feel free, of course.

edit: okay, I actually lol'd when I saw your edit. Because, natch, you already did. <3