Jaccottet Companion in Grief

In the distance whitecaps
on the bay and the spray of
white geese lifting off.

I watch the waves come
in. The honks of the geese fade.
Jaccottet’s words go

triste et transparent,
leave a blank, and continue,
dur, exact, et fragile.

Let the honk not e-
cho my grief’s perfect void nor
the waves sound the same.

Author: Tom D'Evelyn

Tom D'Evelyn is a private editor and writing tutor in Cranston RI and, thanks to the web, across the US and in the UK. He can be reached at tom.develyn@comcast.net. D'Evelyn has a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley. Before retiring he held positions at The Christian Science Monitor, Harvard University Press, Boston University and Brown University. He ran a literary agency for ten years, publishing books by Leonard Nathan and Arthur Quinn, among others. Before moving to Portland OR he was managing editor at Single Island Press, Portsmouth NH. He blogs at http://tdevelyn.com and other sites.

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