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This poem is taken from PN Review 63, Volume 15 Number 1, September - October 1988.

Three Poems Elizabeth Jennings

So far back

So far back always love. Always I found
Hero-worshipping. I wished to gaze
Only, not touch, not trouble. Now today,
Thirty years later, all this is restored.
After passion's dark dominion and
After desire turns to admiration,
Wonder restored so fully, awe come fresh,
It is as if the senses' tug and sway
Never governed me. Or is it that
The very act of an absolving power
Graced, re-graced, renewed, replenished me?
I want no answers, only feel the breath
Of April breezes like sweet gratitude
Touching my spirit. Old loves come to mind,
Great people still alive to whom I turn
Only to thank and, oddly, they thank me
...


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