All Is And That Is All Poem by John Tansey

All is, And That is All



As a boy, I remember the snow

Through a schoolroom window.



stimulated by its crisp cold

To a gasp echoing down the years



Until now, breathing it in



all the loss of my life, I have ingested

It is part of me, now



The excess pounds are the bones

And memories are their souls



As they add to my girth

Like the time-layered rings



Of an own gnarled tree

Leaning in Winter



All is

And that is all.




John Tansey



Winter 2018