- When I Consider
When I consider how my light is spenthow once I read minute textwith no assistance I grumble at scanningthe room for where my glasses wentyet think of the apostle never given an optionby an optician his stark sightmaking him write in such large letters& of Milton whose light grew increasingly dark
When I consider how my heart is benttoward fulfillments of my ownI understand how Beethoven saw unspenttalent as a death he'd battle graspedfor each note's vibration mournedthe isolation of every missed wordthe loss of a shepherd-pipe's flutterthe subtleties of his symphonies unheard
When I consider how my dad's mind wentno longer balancing numerical skyscraperson the tip of a pencil recalculatingcalculations checking sums ruffling papersthe admission comes that no soulhas ever been in control our losses insistwe untwist this illusion & let gogradually relieved of such need [End Page 155]
D.S. Martin is Canadian poet and series editor for the Poiema Poetry Series from Cascade Books. He is currently serving as poet in residence at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario. Recent publications include Ampersand, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C. S. Lewis, Poiema, and the chapbook So the Moon Would Not Be Swallowed. www.dsmartin.ca.