Marriage

all you can see are my travels and they are the least of me

Photo: © David Whyte

Marriage

(Ulysses)

This skin I should shed,
beneath it I am barely visible,
cannot be seen or recognized
or welcomed back,
all you can see are my travels
and they are the least of me,
not the one who has arrived.

I am almost home now.
And you, you are always waiting
beyond that horizon
I must make for myself,
again and again.

You have always waited
and with your clear eyes,
have always known the secret,
how we wait, day by day
for the arrival of an
affection we must first
have made completely our own.


(Penelope)

It has taken ten years
Ulysses,
skimming the waves,
barely touching
that heroic existence
assigned to you without
your informed
and happy consent.

You are almost home,
get down
on your knees and kiss
the grit and sand of Ithaca.

-from Everything is Waiting for You

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