Friday 25 September 2009

Love After Love - Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

- As humans we spend so long looking for approval and love from other people that we forget ourselves. This reminds me of the song which goes 'learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all...' As I've said previously, I believe the most significant relationship you can have in your life is the one you have with yourself. You have to be willing to give yourself the love that you want others to give you. This process is a journey and I love how Walcott puts it 'the time will come, with elation...' suggesting you will be excited by yourself and proud when you look in the mirror, into your soul and who you really are.

2 comments:

Rethabile said...

Great poem. One of my favourites.

The girl with kaleidoscope eyes said...

Yes I'm glad I came across it. It makes me think about what's truly important.