This poem has awakened a memory that has been just below my consciousness for over fifty years. It is the memory of my best buddy, Bill Adams, and myself standing on the second floor landing of our fraternity house at the University of Wisconsin.
Bill and I are spending a few moments together, quietly talking about our day and the planned evening. Little did I know what these few minutes together would mean to me.We were just two great friends spending a few moments together, never realizing then that the memory would come back to me now. I can see it in my mind's eye, the two of us, the sounds of the fraternity guys, and the fading light coming in the windows...
How many of us have such sweet memories, hiding just beneath our consciousness, just waiting for a song, a poem, even a sound, to bring them back; all the vividness and light of the past.
They are truly a blessing and I hope you have such memories also...brought back to you by a poem such as this. I wish you well.
Happiness
Raymond Carver
Raymond Carver
So early it's still almost dark out.
I'm near the window with coffee,
and the usual early morning stuff
that passes for thought.
When I see the boy and his friend
walking up the road
to deliver the newspaper.
They wear caps and sweaters,
and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.
They are so happy
they aren't saying anything, these boys.
I think if they could, they would take
each other's arm.
It's early in the morning,
and they are doing this thing together.
They come on, slowly.
The sky is taking on light,
though the moon still hangs pale over the water.
Such beauty that for a minute
death and ambition, even love,
doesn't enter into this.
Happiness. It comes on
unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
any early morning talk about it.
I'm near the window with coffee,
and the usual early morning stuff
that passes for thought.
When I see the boy and his friend
walking up the road
to deliver the newspaper.
They wear caps and sweaters,
and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.
They are so happy
they aren't saying anything, these boys.
I think if they could, they would take
each other's arm.
It's early in the morning,
and they are doing this thing together.
They come on, slowly.
The sky is taking on light,
though the moon still hangs pale over the water.
Such beauty that for a minute
death and ambition, even love,
doesn't enter into this.
Happiness. It comes on
unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
any early morning talk about it.
Very nice piece, Bix. Here's hoping life is treating you well. Ron Malzer
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