Surprised by Evening (Robert Bly)

April 6, 2014 — poetry, robert bly

Surprised by Evening

by Robert Bly

There is unknown dust that is near us,
Waves breaking on shores just over the hill,
Trees full of birds that we have never seen,
Nets drawn down with dark fish.

The evening arrives; we look up and it is there,
It has come through the nets of the stars,
Through the tissues of the grass,
Walking quietly over the asylums of the waters.

The day shall never end, we think:
We have hair that seems born for the daylight;
But, at last, the quiet waters of the night will rise,
And our skin shall see far off, as it does underwater.

“Surprised by Evening” by Robert Bly from Eating the Honey of Words. © Harper Collins, 1999.