In that poem it speaks of the way that the steps live in me.
And this poem written I suppose about a year later also
speaks of a place in one's feeling life,
in the life of the imagination.
This poem is dedicated to two very dear friends of mine
in London--
David Mitchell and David Hass.
And it's called "Room."
"Shelf of worn, chipped, exquisite China
oddments for daily use.
Baskets for fruit, potatoes, shopping;
stove with grill where David makes such good brown toast.
Left of the sink above the counter, Mary Wollstonecraft,
fair face, dark shadows, energy.
Slightly unsteady, the small table.
Notes to each other.
And soon when David and David come home, strong cups of tea.
It's the kitchen, its window viewless
and not the handsome calm of the living room
I find myself in, at peace, though the presence
across the whole of that room too is part of being here.
The threadbare gracious carpet, surreal romances
of the Victorian decoupage screen, poplars
and oaks and sunsets the large windows look to.
Afternoon, an ample easy quiet.
But it breaks sharply, the Davids
have moved, all the objects stand
at new angles, a kitchen I've never seen,
light from another compass point.
This room my refuge is nowhere but in my mind, more blurred
for them than for me, their memories too
many to sift and focus.
Peace of the invisible, take this nectar, transform it,
internalize it.
If I lose the knowledge of this place
my soul shall be diminished.
There is a song in all humankind that rooms, houses, parks,
streets, fields, and particular corners of fields, rivers,
and certain eye-span reaches of rivers
are notes in, as people are.
Give me the power to sound this note, that disappeared
as if torn down but clear cool tranquil kitchen on Downside
Crescent present in me, a place to be in.
Not pretending-- no tears were shed in it,
no hard words ever shouted, no gray mornings
ever caught in the small mirror over the sink.
But seeing despite that, precisely because of that,
grief not being turned away a place made for grief
to be, one could be there and breathe easy, uncrowded.
A note or chord of notes sustained,
hushing, recurrent in the stream of the song."
[APPLAUSE]