Poem for Everyman (John Wood,1974)
I will present you
parts
of
my
self
slowly
if you are patient and tender.
I will open drawers
that mostly stay closed
and bring out places and people and things
sounds and smells, loves and frustrations, hopes and sadnesses
bits and pieces of three decades of life
that have been grabbed off
in chunks
and found lying in my hands
they have eaten
their way into my memory
carved their way into my heart
altogether - you or i will never see them -
they are me.
if you regard them lightly
deny that they are important
or worse, judge them
i will quietly, slowly
begin to wrap them up,
in small pieces of velvet,
like worn silver and gold jewellery,
tuck them away
in a small wooden chest of drawers
and close.
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