XVIII

"I would like to step out of my heart's door and be 

Under the great sky." I would like to step out 

And be on the other side, and be part of it all

That surrounds me. I would like to be

In that solitude of soundless things, in the random 

Company of the wind, to be weightless, nameless.

But not for long, for I would be downcast without

The things I keep inside my heart; and in no time

I would be back. Ah! the old heart 

In which I sleep, in which my sleep increases, in which

My grief is ponderous, in which the leaves are falling 

In which the streets are long, in which the night 

Is dark, in which the sky is great, the old heart 

That murmurs to me of what cannot go on, 

Of the dancing, of the inmost dancing. 


haggadah Section: Introduction
Source: by Mark Strand