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More poems by Mary OliverMary Oliver | Print this page.Print | View and Write CommentsComments (4) | Books by Mary OliverBooks by Mary Oliver

An Afternoon In The Stacks

Mary Oliver

   
Closing the book, I find I have left my head
inside. It is dark in here, but the chapters open
their beautiful spaces and give a rustling sound,
words adjusting themselves to their meaning.
Long passages open at successive pages. An echo,
continuous from the title onward, hums
behind me. From in here, the world looms,
a jungle redeemed by these linked sentences
carved out when an author traveled and a reader
kept the way open. When this book ends
I will pull it inside-out like a sock
and throw it back in the library. But the rumor
of it will haunt all that follows in my life.
A candleflame in Tibet leans when I move. 

Added: 2 Mar 2002 | Last Read: 7 Jun 2025 4:08 PM | Viewed: 15228 times

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URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/3147/ | Viewed on 7 June 2025.
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