Shalom Freedman Poems

OLDER AND OLDER INTO MORE DARKNESS AND LONELINESS

Older and older into more darkness and loneliness,
The friends are not here.
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HOW CAN I WRITE A POEM/ WHEN I AM FILLED WITH INNER UGLINESS

How can I write a poem
When I am filled with inner ugliness
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THE SILENCE OF THE POEM

The silence of the poem
Conceals the endless longing
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O LET ME HAVE A LATE- NIGHT POEM

O let me have a late- night poem
A way of saying goodbye
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ARE MY POEMS FINISHED/ AND I FINISHED WITH THEM?

Are my poems finished
And I finished with them?
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WHO IS AFRAID OF THE FADING OF THE YELLOWS AND GREENS

Who is afraid of the fading of the yellows and greens
of this park’s long summer evening?
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STAND AT THE END OF ALL I AM

I stand at the end of all I am
And look out in the distance
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WILL THE POEM WRITTEN TODAY/ READ WELL TOMORROW?

Will the poem written today
Read well tomorrow?
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AND I MY POEM/ COULD NOT WRITE

And I my poem
Could not write
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PERHAPS MY POEMS HAVE ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN

Perhaps my poems have already been written
Perhaps it is all now senseless repetition
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