One Day

I will be ready for that voice and the still silence in which it arrives

David Whyte

Sep 10, 2023

109

This poem was written many years ago, and over those years, I have always been pleasantly surprised, both by its simplicity and the way it continues to represent the simplest possible gift at the heart of any legacy I might leave, most especially the line - ‘And the words I have sung are being sung by the ones I would want.’ In laying out the book, Still Possible, the poem kept calling to me to be included amongst all the new work; so as not to be disobliging, I heeded the call.

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ONE DAY

One day I will
say
the gift I once had
has been taken.

The place I have
made for myself
belongs to another,

and the words
I have sung
are being sung
by the ones
I would want.

Then I will be ready
for that voice
and the still silence
in which it arrives.

And if my faith is good
then we'll meet again
on the road
and we'll be thirsty
and stop
and laugh
and drink
together again

from the deep well
of things as they are.


   -from Still Possible

7 Comments

Jamie Millard

Writes Cuoreosity- Living The Questions

Sep 10

Goosebumps! Makes me think of Mahmoud Darwish saying and “It is the goal of my life to write poems that are claimed by children.”

Your poems are songs David. Sung by poets. Read out loud and stained in the hearts of all. You left it better than you found it. Few can say as much. Drink from that well slowly 🙏❤️

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2 replies

Dawn Glaisher

I have to start with the photo.......David's hand loosely holding a walking stick, fingers as if sculpted out of stone, a faceless figure behind the hand, almost Biblical in its atmosphere. I love it. And the poem is equally simple and direct. The first three verses foresee the day that all that a man is and has achieved will come to an end. Verse four recognises this moment as death which will be silently accepted. And verse five describes a personal viewpoint on what death may hold, according to one's faith, flowing on into the two lines "...and drink together again from the deep well of things as they are." Impossible to define that deep well of things, but David has neatly covered the story by calling it "things as they are". The subjective reality of life gives way to the objective reality of "things as they are". Leaving space for us all to include our "things" as all good poems do. Simple yet inclusive. And part of a valuable poetic legacy I enjoy sharing. Did I mention that I love the photo?!

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