Going There

Jack Gilbert

Of course it was a disaster.

The unbearable, dearest secret

has always been a disaster.

The danger when we try to leave.

Going over and over afterward

what we should have done

instead of what we did.

But for those short times

we seemed to be alive. Misled,

misused, lied to and cheated,

certainly. Still, for that

little while, we visited

our possible life.

Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew

Horses at Midnight Without a Moon by Jack Gilbert
Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods.

South by Jack Gilbert
In the small towns along the river

Summer at Blue Creek, North Carolina by Jack Gilbert
There was no water at my grandfather's

Tear It Down by Jack Gilbert
We find out the heart only by dismantling what

The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart by Jack Gilbert