Weldon Kees > Quotes

“What other hope does life hold out
But the miraculous, the skilled and patient
Execution, the teamwork, all the pain and worry every miracle involves?”
― Weldon Kees, The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees

“I look at you
Across those fires and the dark.”
― Weldon Kees

“But the room is cold, the words in the books are cold;
And the question of whether we get what we ask for
Is absurd, unanswered by the sound of an unlatched door
Rattling in wind, or the sound of snow on roofs, or glare
Of the winter sun. What we have learned is not what we were told.
I watch the snow, feel for the heartbeat that is not there.”
― Weldon Kees, The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees

“Burn, glare, old sun, so long unseen,
That time may find its sound again, and cleanse
Whatever it is that a wound remembers
After the healing ends.”
― Weldon Kees, The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees

“A Small Prayer"

Change, move, dead clock, that this fresh day
May break with dazzling light to these sick eyes.
Burn, glare, old sun, so long unseen,
That time may find its sound again, and cleanse
Whatever it is that a wound remembers
After the healing ends.”
― Weldon Kees, The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees