Summer is Late, My Heart

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Touch Me

by Stanley Kunitz


Summer is late, my heart.
Words plucked out of the air
some forty years ago
when I was wild with love
and torn almost in two
scatter like leaves this night
of whistling wind and rain.
It is my heart that's late,
it is my song that's flown.
Outdoors all afternoon
under a gunmetal sky
staking my garden down,
I kneeled to the crickets trilling
underfoot as if about
to burst from their crusty shells;
and like a child again
marveled to hear so clear
and brave a music pour
from such a small machine.
What makes the engine go?
Desire, desire, desire.
The longing for the dance
stirs in the buried life.
One season only,
and it's done.
So let the battered old willow
thrash against the windowpanes
and the house timbers creak.
Darling, do you remember
the man you married? Touch me,
remind me who I am.

please note: photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 3, 2009 at 4:42 AM

    Ooooh, I really loved this one, so vividly romantic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RudeeJune 3, 2009 at 5:36 AM

    What a passionate piece of work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Viewtiful_JustinJune 3, 2009 at 6:06 AM

    Wow.

    ReplyDelete
  4. robertJune 3, 2009 at 6:19 AM

    Thank you very much for that reminder!

    ReplyDelete
  5. dsJune 3, 2009 at 7:41 AM

    He was an amazing poet, wasn't he? Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. debraJune 3, 2009 at 8:43 AM

    Oh, this is absolutely beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownJune 3, 2009 at 10:31 AM

    LOVE the photo.
    Smiles!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Batteson.IndJune 3, 2009 at 2:09 PM

    Perfectly fitting picture and such a beautiful gut wrenching poem. I had the feeling I'd read this before somewhere. Particularly when I read; "touch me and remind me who I am".... perhaps it is such a commanding image that it seems familier...

    ReplyDelete
  9. KathleenJune 3, 2009 at 8:16 PM

    She swoons ... splat (and keels over) ... still working on the balance thing.

    Lovely.

    And so delightful to see a photo by the masterful Henri. Anyone who has to live with a hyphenated last name has my undying (not zombiesque, tho') admiration. ~;^D

    ReplyDelete
  10. LydiaJune 4, 2009 at 12:13 AM

    Oh to have the response poem to this one!

    The poem is great, but I think the photo captures the poem's title even better than the words!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Compost StudiosJune 5, 2009 at 12:08 PM

    Touch me, remind me who I am.

    Yes.

    V-Grrrl

    ReplyDelete
  12. YogaforCynicsJune 6, 2009 at 8:24 AM

    Beautiful poem...and much much better than the lyrics of the Doors song of the same name that went through my head when I saw the title up there....

    ReplyDelete

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