Gary Snyder – “December at Yase”

January 25, 2009 at 9:22 am (Gary Snyder, Poetry & Literature, The Beats)

 

You said, that October,
In the tall dry grass by the orchard
When you chose to be free,
“Again someday, maybe ten years”

 

After college I saw you
One time. You were strange,
And I was obsessed with a plan

 

Now ten years and more have
Gone by: I’ve always known
where you were—
I might have gone to you
Hoping to win your love back
You still are single

 

I didn’t.
I thought I must make it alone. I
Have done that

 

Only in dream, like this dawn,
Does the grave, awed intensity
Of our young love
Return to my mind, to my flesh

 

We had what the others
All crave and seek for;
We left it behind at nineteen

 

I feel ancient, as though I had
Lived many lives

 

And may never now know
If I am a fool
Or have done what my
karma demands.