Isn’t it great? Here is the full poem: https://poets.org/poem/untitled-what-was-bequeathed-us Untitled [This is what was bequeathed us] Gregory Orr – 1946- This is what was bequeathed us: This earth the beloved left And, leaving, Left to us. No other world But this one: Willows and the river And the factory With its black smokestacks. No other shore, only this bank On which the living gather. No meaning but what we find here. No purpose but what we make. That, and the beloved’s clear instructions: Turn me into song; sing me awake. Reply
2 responses to “No other shore, only this bank”
I think that is one of the most beautiful verses I’ve ever read….
Isn’t it great? Here is the full poem:
https://poets.org/poem/untitled-what-was-bequeathed-us
Untitled [This is what was bequeathed us]
Gregory Orr – 1946-
This is what was bequeathed us:
This earth the beloved left
And, leaving,
Left to us.
No other world
But this one:
Willows and the river
And the factory
With its black smokestacks.
No other shore, only this bank
On which the living gather.
No meaning but what we find here.
No purpose but what we make.
That, and the beloved’s clear instructions:
Turn me into song; sing me awake.