The World Has Need of You by Ellen Bass
The World Has Need of You
Ellen Basseverything here
seems to need us
— Rainer Maria RilkeI can hardly imagine it
as I walk to the lighthouse, feeling the ancient
prayer of my arms swinging
in counterpoint to my feet.
Here I am, suspended
between the sidewalk and twilight,
the sky dimming so fast it seems alive.
What if you felt the invisible
tug between you and everything?
A boy on a bicycle rides by,
his white shirt open, flaring
behind him like wings.
It’s a hard time to be human. We know too much
and too little. Does the breeze need us?
The cliffs? The gulls?
If you’ve managed to do one good thing,
the ocean doesn’t care.
But when Newton’s apple fell toward the earth,
the earth, ever so slightly, fell
toward the apple as well.
KEEP READING
SOURCE
This poem appeared in Like a Beggar by Ellen Bass, published by Copper Canyon, 2014. Shared here with deep gratitude.
DESCRIPTION
“In her fifth book of poetry, Bass addresses everything from Saturn’s rings and Newton’s law of gravitation to wasps and Pablo Neruda. Her words are nostalgic, vivid, and visceral. Bass arrives at the truth of human carnality rooted in the extraordinary need and promise of the individual. Bass shows us that we are as radiant as we are ephemeral, that in transience glistens resilient history and the remarkable fluidity of connection. By the collection’s end, following her musings on suicide and generosity, desire and repetition, it becomes lucidly clear that Bass is not only a poet but also a philosopher and a storyteller.”
ENDNOTES
- Read more poems by Ellen Bass • Find books by this poet • Or view my library
- Explore other works in pursuit of: truths • being human • the self • Or browse the index
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