Poetry Month - Part 4

Jane Kenyon is another one of my favorites. I've been slowly making my way through "Jane Kenyon: A Literary Life" while reading her book of poetry entitled "Otherwise". It's been interesting to read them together, the first giving lots of background on the poems in the second. Kenyon dealt with depression for much of her life and spent her last years fighting an aggressive form of leukemia. There is a melancholy that pervades many of her poems, so I had a hard time choosing one to post. I do love her work, though, and I admire her way with words. She takes daily life occurrences and imbues them with brilliant meaning. Perhaps you remember this post about one of my favorites. Here's another...this one makes me stop and take the time to be thankful for each day, even the seemingly ordinary ones.

Otherwise
Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.