Introduction from Alison:
Many people, especially after being in a marriage for many years, have trouble recognizing themselves outside their role as a spouse and have a hard time adapting after a separation. This poem is a reminder of the idea of individual self – a look into the process of reacquaintance with yourself and finding a new dedication to your own personal identity.
Love After Love
by 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 youall 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.
Other Inspirational Poems
Last Night, As I Was Sleeping (Poem by Antonio Machado)
The Journey (Poem by Mary Oliver)
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