Litany by Billy Collins
I really need to read more Billy Collins, but as I haven’t procured any books of his poems yet, here’s one I found online.
Litany
By Billy Collins
You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine…
—Jacques Crickillon
You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.
However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general’s head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.
And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry, I’m not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine.
Current Tea: spicy chai (apparently the spicy components are proprietary)
Hello rinabeana, whoever you are.
I just discovered your wondrous website
when I googled Mary Oliver’s “Messenger.”
I love Billy Collins. His book “Questions About Angels”
currently claims pride of place on my toilet tank
along with Walt Whitman. I have heard Collins
read “Litany” aloud. Also “The Lanyard” (check
it out). Oliver’s passage “Let me keep my mind
on what matters, which is my work, which is
mostly standing still and learning to be astonished”
is what sent me to Google, finally, months after
I cut it from some advertisement and taped it to
my monitor. And then I found your site, the first
ever to be set down by me in a permanent place.
And now it’s time to keep my mind on my work,
knowing rinabeana is always there to go back to.
Jane Elder Wulff, Battle Ground, Washington, 8/2/08
Jane,
Thank you so much for the very nice comment. I haven’t read much of Billy Collins’s work, but I really need to get more because I know I’d like him. Thank you for the recommendation for “The Lanyard”.
Enjoy the poems!
Carina
P.S. I think Mary Oliver is absolutely amazing!