Batavia, New York
by Liz Rosenberg
1 The old people sit so late into the night
2 they read by starlight.
3 They clutch the book straight up
4 or let it fall a little space upon their chests
5 as if what was written there still weighed on them.
6 The underwater spray of t.v.
7 fills the living room;
8 blue-gray lightning on the philodendron, on the china dog
9 asleep in the curio.
10 At the tip of massive, dreaming oak trees
11 round green arrows point toward spring.
12 But the old people, with so much of life behind them
13 and death ahead, looming like a hill,---
14 what do they dream?
[from The Fire Music (1986): University of Pittsburgh Press]
Copyright © 1986, Liz Rosenberg.
Reproduced for personal use only: do not circulate.