Derek Walcott (1930-2017)

PURPLE JESUS (BLACK RAINBOW)

Good morning, world! What a fine day this is!

The wide, sail-breeding day is bright, but grief

still numbs me with its dumb paralysis,

while stubborn joy blazons the croton leaf.

The breakers come in, their work is infinite,

and loved ones die, their lives beyond belief.

Though we accept the world and all that’s in it,

a dog shakes a slipper between its teeth,

doubting its emptiness. Margaret, Mark Strand ––

your are twin shadows made by my right hand,

writing this book for Peter Doig ; in it,

dear absent ones, you share one daily love.

The light makes life harder to understand

and day declines with every brightening minute.

(Derek Walcott & Peter Doig, Morning, Paramin, FSG, 2016)

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