The Arithmetic of Alternation (from Secrets)

 

today I write

of the shadows

flowers make

on a white wall,

the texture of petals

and leaves like a flat braille

a brightness

even without color

 

but tomorrow

I will tell

how on the warmest day

there is an icy edge

to things, a darkness

in the rim

of every shining

object

 

this is the arithmetic

of alternation,

the way the hours,

the seasons

arrange themselves,

it keeps us honest,

it keeps us turning

the page

 

— Linda Pastan