Resource 5 The Layers by Stanley Kunitz (Tapestry of Faith)
In "," a Tapestry of Faith program
“The Layers”. Copyright (C) 1978 by Stanley Kunitz, from THE COLLECTED POEMS by Stanley Kunitz. Used by permission of W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Stanley Kunitz was a 20th/21st- century American poet, named American Poet Laureate in 2000.
I have walked through many lives,
Some of them my own,
And I am not who I was,
Though some principle of being
Abides, from which I struggle
Not to stray.
When I look behind,
As I am compelled to look,
Before I can gather strength
To proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
Toward the horizon
And the slow fires trailing
From the abandoned campsites
Over which scavenger angels
Wheel on heavy wings.
Oh, I have made myself a tribe
Out of my true affections
And my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
To its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
The manic dust of my friends,
Those who fell along the way
Bitterly sting my face.
Yet I turn, I turn,
Exulting somewhat,
With my will intact to go
Wherever I need to go,
And every stone on the road
Precious to me.
In my darkest night,
When the moon was covered and I
Roamed through wreckage,
A nimbus-clouded voice
Directed me:
“Live in the layers,
not the litter.”
Though I lack the art to decipher it,
No doubt the next chapter
In my book of transformations
Is already written.
I am not done with my changes.
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Last updated on Saturday, December 10, 2011.
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Resource 2: Sample Participant Letter for Your Packet- Resource 3 Sample Order of Service for Celebration of Elders
- Resource 4 Sample Order of Service for Celebration of Elders
- Resource 5 The Layers by Stanley Kunitz
- Resource 6 Things to not Leave Undone
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