Chien-Chi Chang / Magnum December 31, 2023, 8 AM ET Because if you can survivethe violet night, you can survive the next, and the fig tree will achewith sweetness for you in sunlight that arrives first at your window, quietly pawingeven when you can’t stand it, and you’ll heavy the whining floorboardsof the house you filled with animals as hurt and lost as you, and the bearded irises will formfully in their roots, their golden manes swaying with the want of spring—live, live, live, live!— one day you’ll put your hands in the earthand understand an afterlife isn’t promised, but the spray of scorpion grass keeps growing,and the dogs will sing their whole bodies in praise of you, and the redbuds will laydown their pink crowns, and the rivers will set their stones and ribbonsat your door if only you’ll let the worldsoften you with its touching. This poem has been excerpted from the collection You Are Here, edited by Ada Limón.   Source link