Author: Donald Justice

Men at forty Learn to close softly The doors to rooms they will not be Coming back to. At rest […]

Thirty today, I saw The trees flare briefly like The candles on a cake, As the sun went down the […]

It’s snowing this afternoon and there are no flowers. There is only this sound of falling, quiet and remote, Like […]

Late arrival, no One would think of blaming you For hesitating so. Who, setting his hand to knock At a […]

We have climbed the mountain. There’s nothing more to do. It is terrible to come down To the valley Where, […]

Jane looks down at her organdy skirt As if it somehow were the thing disgraced, For being there, on the […]

1 Dear ghosts, dear presences, O my dear parents, Why were you so sad on porches, whispering? What great melancholies […]

A delicate young Negro stands With the reins of a horse clutched loosely in his hands; So delicate, indeed, that […]

Turn your head. Look. The light is turning yellow. The river seems enriched thereby, not to say deepened. Why this […]

But these maneuverings to avoid The touching of hands, These shifts to keep the eyes employed On objects more or […]