To Be Held by Linda Hogan

MARGINALIA • SKIP TO THE POEM

1.
It isn’t your fault that it is taking a long time for you to do it, says M. the other evening. We talk over a distance of oceans, and I hum my gratefulness at being understood.

2.
It is, unfortunately, your responsibility to protect yourself by letting them go. I wrap my blanket around me, wishing I had a sandwich while I’m crying.

To Be Held
Linda Hogan

To be held
by the light
was what I wanted,
to be a tree drinking the rain,
no longer parched in this hot land.
To be roots in a tunnel growing
but also to be sheltering the inborn leaves
and the green slide of mineral
down the immense distances
into infinite comfort
and the land here, only clay,
still contains and consumes
the thirsty need
the way a tree always shelters the unborn life
waiting for the healing
after the storm
which has been our life.

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This poem appeared in Dark. Sweet: New & Selected Poems by Linda Hogan, published by Coffee House Press, 2014. Shared here with profound gratitude.

Read more works by Linda Hogan • Find books by this poet • Or view my library 

Explore poems in pursuit of: healing • nature • longing • Or browse the index

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