Pausing - That Was All Poem by Frank Avon
Pausing - That Was All
'I could not stop for death.'
Striding, striding
where he strode,
undeterred by his grim robe
I have kept the higher road.
Higher, I might have thought,
bearing, I would have said,
a heavier load,
keeping on, going forth,
pausing - that was all.
And all was hardly enough.
'I will lift up mine eyes, '
I read - and again and again
those words I said,
'unto these hills.'
But hill and valley -
they all are one
the sky, the clouds, the moon, the sun,
they all are one
and then are gone,
all the same,
all work done.
I only paused,
and then kept on.
I spoke their names
always the same,
and there were names,
and there were names
more and more,
harder than the one before.
I only paused -
though now I halt
and raise their praise
to heaven's vault.
If they could hear
my whispering,
I'd say to them
one more thing.
'You should know,
you all should know,
you will live on
wherever I go,
for you made me
who I've become
who I shall be
till all we are one.'
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/19/2024 12:47:24 AM # 1.0.0.1119
I want to pause here to acknowledge WENDELL BERRY in your comment on my poem for my best friend, Paul - LENDING MY VOICE. I met Wendell Berry at a conference many years ago on SPACE COLONIZATION. I recognized in him a latter day Thoreau and found his presence was an eloquent homage to faith and hope. However, the venue of SPACE COLONIZATION was simply not his metier, he could not wrap his mind around the concept, saw it only as a kind of human hubris rather than humanity's ongoing quest of discovery. I talked to him one-on-one at the end of the conference and expressed my appreciation for his philosophy of life. He was gracious and responsive. It was only in later years as he published more that I fully comprehended what a rare and wonderful person he is. He is the inheritor of the TRANSCENDENTALIST MOVEMENT which has enriched our American heritage. I'm not sure of this, but should his name be added to your eloquent tribute to those WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE?