Poem of the Day: Franz Wright

by | Jul 15, 2016 | Poem of the Day Series, Reading

 

                —in the wake of another tragedy: praying for France

 

THOUGHTS OF A SOLITARY FARMHOUSE

 

And not to feel bad about dying.
Not to take it so personally—

it is only
the force we exert all our lives

to exclude death from our thoughts
that confronts us, when it does arrive,

as the horror of being excluded— . . .
something like that, the Canadian wind

coming in off Lake Erie
rattling the windows, horizontal snow

appearing out of nowhere
across the black highway and fields like billions of white bees.

 

—previously appeared on Poetry Foundation