By The Well of Living and Seeing

4

The windows opened on blank walls,
the work was under lamps all day,
summer and winter, spring and fall;
on every desk a bulb was shining.

One morning, I sat down at home
to read or write and for a moment thought:
how wonderful the light!
It lit up table, room, and street,
the neighboring houses and the sky;
how clear each object in the room,
how clear the sight of room and street;
how even, mild, and wonderful the light—
just sunlight.

Return to By the Well of Living and Seeing and The Fifth Book of the Maccabees

Material from
POEMS 1918-1975: THE COMPLETE POEMS OF CHARLES REZNIKOFF Copyright © 1977
by Marie Syrkin Reznikoff and reprinted with the permission of Black Sparrow Press.