Love after Love

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 you⁣⁣
⁣⁣
all 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.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
⁣⁣
LOVE AFTER LOVE⁣⁣
by Derek Walcott