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| R. TORRES PANDAN |
| How Do We Know of Heaven |
| THE AUTHOR HOLDS THE COPYRIGHT TO THIS POEM. THIS IS POSTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR. |
| THIS IS PART OF THE LITERATURA READING SERIES | CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO LITERATURA |
| What are things of heaven But things of this world -- So a crack of light May hide hints of the eternal. How do we know of heaven Except a crack in the day Might signal impatience for light. (But a day when one may drink Deeply and throw away all thought, Yet still remark on the spring That flows through one’s throat, Even without remonstrance On the bleak heart or disaster.) How do we know of heaven Except traveling blind at an unknown Time, in some untracked place, One may smell in the grass Or the off-winter air a song On where one ought to be going. How do we know of heaven Except where one forgives one’s self For things easily forgotten -- Old keys, kind words and faces -- Because there may be days to find them When one can really go out looking. And how do we know of heaven Except tall in the doorway, Jostling with one’s lover, Feet between in-or-out at almost The way out, hands not together But near touching, one listens In her voice for those words Eager to be mistaken For things that are of heaven. This poem is part of the collection that won Third Prize for Poetry in the 2006 Palanca Awards |