“The Japanese think it strange we paint our old wooden houses when it takes so long to find the wabi in them. They prefer the bonsai tree after the valiant blossoming is over, the leaves fallen. When bareness reveals a… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share Image
I had lived all of my youthful dreams, but I couldn't think of many adult ones. I finally realized that we don't have many… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share Image
I dream of lost vocabularies that might express some of what we no longer can. — Jack Gilbert Copy Share Image
Why do so manysettle for so little? I don't understand why they're not greedy for what's inside them. — Jack Gilbert Copy Share Image
Suddenly this defeat. This rain. The blues gone gray And the browns gone gray And yellow A terrible amber. In the cold streets Your warm body. In whatever room Your warm body. Among all the people Your absence The people who are always Not you. I have been easy with trees Too long. Too familiar with mountains. Joy has been… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share
“A DESCRIPTION OF HAPPINESS IN KOBENHAVN All this windless day snow fell into the King's Garden where I walked, perfecting and growing old, abandoning one by one everybody: randomly in love with the paradise furnace of my mind. Now I sit in the dark, dreaming of a marble sun and its strictness. This is to tell you I am not… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share
When I was walking in the mountains with the Japanese man and began to hear the water, he said, 'What is the sound of… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share Image
I'm vain enough to think that I've made a successful life. I've had everything I've ever wanted. You can't beat that. — Jack Gilbert Copy Share Image
“There was no water at my grandfather’s when I was a kid and would go for it with two zinc buckets. Down the path, past the cow by the foundation where the fine people’s house was before they arranged to have it burned down. To the neighbor’s cool well. Would come back with pails too heavy, so my mouth pulled… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share
“Failing and Flying" Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew. It's the same when love comes to an end, or the marriage fails and people say they knew it was a mistake, that everybody said it would never work. That she was old enough to know better. But anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Like being there by that summer… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share
“Horses At Midnight Without A Moon" Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods. Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt. But there's music in us. Hope is pushed down but the angel flies up again taking us with her. The summer mornings begin inch by inch while we sleep, and walk with us later as long-legged beauty through… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share
“Imagine if suffering were real. Imagine if those old people were afraid of death. What if the midget or the girl with one arm… — Jack Gilbert Copy Share Image
