Prayer by Galway Kinnell
Prayer
Galway KinnellWhatever happens. Whatever
what is is is what
I want. Only that. But that.
MARGINALIA
1.
Belly full, and mind, and heart. An hour past midnight and well into a new morning. Thinking about all the days that led to this, and all the days after this one.
2.
Sometimes I find it so simple—to be happy. And sometimes it is exhausting and terribly difficult, and you almost question why until you catch yourself, and gently remember that in this world there are more questions than there are answers, and that’s okay.
3.
This moment: at the table, surrounded by people you love, a glass of wine in hand, and that quiet realisation that maybe this is all you need for tonight. That maybe this night will get you through other nights.
4.
Enough. Enough now.
Merry Christmas.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in A New Selected Poems by Galway Kinnell, published by Ecco, 2001. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT GALWAY KINNELL
Galway Kinnell was born in Providence on February 1, 1927. In 1948, he graduated from Princeton University. His first book of poems, What a Kingdom It Was (Houghton Mifflin), was published in 1960, followed by Flower Herding on Mount Monadnock (Houghton Mifflin, 1964). Kinnell published several more volumes of poetry, including Strong Is Your Hold (Houghton Mifflin, 2006); A New Selected Poems (Houghton Mifflin, 2000), a finalist for the National Book Award; Imperfect… (more)
Read more poems by Galway Kinnell • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
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deborahbrasket
Beautiful, and wise. What a lovely thing to read this Christmas Eve morning. Thank you.
billy
I was standing in Liberty’s last week stroking a cashmere shawl, lost in my reverie, when a young sales assistant asked if she could help me. I smiled and answered, “No thanks, I’m just enjoying the experience of being here”. I’m none too clear where that “here” was/is, but……You have just taken me back there……
A place In which time, disappears
Where there is a sense of something, familiar, more, something we ought to know
Before experience? perhaps!
Forgotten
Almost
Thank you, and joy always……
Rebecca Adams
Beautiful. Thank you. Merry Christmas
Ai~
This is beautiful. A blessed Christmas!
Mariel
(Belated) Merry Christmas! I’m so grateful for this blog of yours. It’s perfect – your writing and the poems. 🙂