Diagnosis
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If you should see me fading out, she said,And cannot keep my gaze in yours, tell meTo go ahead, that you'll be there to seeMe coming to the shore, and I'll be led.If you should touch me and I do not turnTo find the guiding of your hands, fold mineInto each other, press them for a signOf patience in the silence we will learn.Can you regard me with no answering smile?Without the kindly tone of voice that saysWhat in the absence from you my heart prays?Will you believe I'm somewhere for that while?Inside that moment when I don't returnYour word—if love holds then it holds unearned. [End Page 231]
Michael Carson's poems have appeared in The Southern Review, The Formalist, and The New Virginia Review. He has a collection of poems forthcoming from the Louisiana State University Press.
