rose

A few months ago, I was walking with Anna and we found a box of free books that somebody had left out on a sidewalk with a written plea to take what was wanted. Most of it wasn't spectacular, but I did find a copy of Li-Young Lee's "Rose". I was struck because the first time Anna and I met (or didn't meet, but saw each other) was at a poetry reading by Lee at the university.
Yesterday, I read the book for the first time. The sweet melancholy was overwhelming. It's a beautiful book.

"I want the rain
to follow me, to mark me
with a strip down my chest and belly,
to darken my skin, and blacken my hair.
I want to be broken,
to be eaten by the anonymous mouths,
to be eroded like minutes and seconds,
to be reduced to water
and a little light.
I want to rise,
the doors of the rain to open,
I will enter, rain alive
among my fingers, embroidered on my tongue, and brilliant in my eyes,
I want to carry it in my shirt pocket,
devote my life to the discovery of its secret,
the one blessing it whispers."
-Li-Young Lee, from "Rain Diary"