And there's a poem, in the new poems but after the book,
called "Homecoming".
Wittgenstein said the central theme
of any poet who lives long enough to have a central theme
is homecoming.
And, you know, I bow to Wittgenstein,
who was a very smart man.
He knew a lot about poetry, too.
"Homecoming"
One day, when the summer was nearly over, and my own hair
had been white as the day's clouds for more years
than I was counting.
I stood by the garden that evening,
Paula was still weeding around flowers that open after dark.
And I looked up to the clear sky, and saw the new moon.
And at that moment, from behind me, a band of dark birds,
and then another after it, flying in silence.
Long, curving wings, hardly moving.
The plovers, just in from the sea.
And the flight, clear from Alaska.
Half their weight gone to get them home.
But home now.
Arriving without a sound, as it rose to meet them.