From California Poem by Vikram Seth

From California

Rating: 4.3


Sunday night in the house.
The blinds drawn, the phone dead.
The sound of the kettle, the rain.
Supper: cheese, celery, bread.

For company, old letters
In the same disjointed script.
Old love wells up again,
All that I thought had slipped

Through the sieve of long absence
Is here with me again:
The long stone walls, the green
Hillsides renewed with rain.

The way you would lick your finger
And touch your forehead, the way
You hummed a phrase from the flute
Sonatas, or turned to say,

"Larches--the only conifers
That honestly blend with Wales."
I walk with you again
Along these settled trails.

It seems I started this poem
So many years ago
I cannt follow its ending
And must begin anew.

Blame, some bitterness,
I recall there were these.
Yet what survives is Bach
And a few blackberries

Something of the "falling starlight",
In the phrase of Wang Wei,
Falls on my shadowed self.
I thank you that today

His words are open to me.
How much you have inspired
You cannot know. The end
Left much to be desired.

"There is a comfort in
The strength of love." I quote
Another favourite
You vouchsafed me. Please note

The lack of hope or faith:
Neither is justified.
I have closed out the night.
The random rain outside

Rejuvenates the parched
Foothills along the Bay.
Anaesthetised by years
I think of you today

Not with impassionedness
So much as half a smile
To see the weathered past
Still worth my present while.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Susan Williams 28 January 2016

Even though the relationship is over, I like how this poet still can be tender about the love that was. Extraordinary heart in this awesome piece.

26 1 Reply
Thakker Bhupen 15 April 2010

Charmed by this- the frayed letters- the new light yet to come and respect for the past

14 5 Reply
Ratnakar Mandlik 09 December 2016

There is comfort In the strength of love. Great write and truth too. Thanks for sharing.

2 0 Reply
Mahtab Bangalee 11 September 2019

Blame, some bitterness, I recall there were these. Yet what survives is Bach And a few blackberries....................../// excellent poetic expression

2 0 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 11 September 2019

" My present while" ! ! ! ! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

1 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 04 December 2020

It seems I started this poem So many years ago I cannt follow its ending And must begin anew. a great poetic experience. thank you dear poet. tony

0 0 Reply
Kumarmani Mahakul 11 September 2020

There is a comfort in The strength of love." I quote Another favourite You vouchsafed me. Please note.....touching expression. Beautiful poem. Thanks and congratulations for being chosen this poem as the modern poem of the day.

0 0 Reply
Khairul Ahsan 11 September 2020

'The lack of hope or faith: Neither is justified. I have closed out the night. The random rain outside' - loved these lines!

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 11 September 2020

This poem has deeper meaning than it seems from the surface. The poet thinking of the past and his life Remembering all things, most in the past, I cite one of his lines: Old love wells up again, All that I thought had slipped This is not with a woman the words are suited for a man-to-man attitude CONGRATULATIONS for the Modern Poem Of The Day.

0 0 Reply
Bijay Kant Dubey 11 September 2020

Why does he prefer to be alone? Why does he not take somebody else for to chat? Why did he not hold the hand in firm grip? It is just the result of wavering in one's own belief. He himself has digressed and deviated from. That love is not love if it materializes it not.

0 0 Reply
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Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth

Kolkata / India
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