The time will come
when, with elation you
will greet yourself arriving
at your own door,
in your own mirror
and each will smile
at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again
the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread.
Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger
who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
- Derek Walcott
> Listen to this beautiful poem soulfully recited by spoke word artist and poet Kim Rosen with music by Jami Sieber on cello. You may download the audio version only.
"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection." - Gautama Siddharta, 563-483 BC
"The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along." - Rumi
"Avoid looking for new Ways to flee across the chessboard. Listen to Hear ‘Checkmate!’ spoken directly to You." - Rumi
when, with elation you
will greet yourself arriving
at your own door,
in your own mirror
and each will smile
at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again
the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread.
Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger
who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
- Derek Walcott
> Listen to this beautiful poem soulfully recited by spoke word artist and poet Kim Rosen with music by Jami Sieber on cello. You may download the audio version only.
About the Poet | Derek Walcott is considered the greatest living poet of the English-speaking world. He swirls the heart and soul of the Caribbean with the classic canon for verses that sear into you. Born (1930) in Castries, St. Lucia, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.
"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection." - Gautama Siddharta, 563-483 BC
"The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along." - Rumi
"Avoid looking for new Ways to flee across the chessboard. Listen to Hear ‘Checkmate!’ spoken directly to You." - Rumi
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