PRESENTS By Norman MacCaig

 I give you an emptiness,

I give you a plentitude,

Unwrap them carefully.

--One’s as fragile as the other—

And when you thank me

I’ll pretend not to notice the doubt in your voice

When you say they’re just what you wanted.

Put them on a table by your bed.

When you wake in the morning

They’ll have gone through

The door of sleep into your head.

Wherever you go, they’ll go with you and

Wherever you are you’ll wonder,

Smiling about the fullness you can’t add to

And the emptiness that you can fill.

 

O’Donohue, J.  (1997). Anam cara: A book of Celtic wisdom.  New York, NY: Harper/Collins.

LOST by David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you

Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,

Must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,

I have made this place around you.

If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are alike to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,

You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows

Where you are. You must let it find you.

Collected Poems, 1956–1976