Tell Me a Story[A]
Long ago, in Kentucky, I, a boy, stood
By a dirt road, in first dark, and heard
The great geese hoot northward.I could not see them, there being no moon
And the stars sparse. I heard them.I did not know what was happening in my heart.
It was the season before the elderberry blooms,
Therefore they were going north.The sound was passing northward.
[B]
Tell me a story.
In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.Make it a story of great distances, and starlight.
The name of the story will be Time,
But you must not pronounce its name.Tell me a story of deep delight.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
"Tell Me a Story" -- Robert Penn Warren
From The Collected Poems of Robert Penn Warren: