older love

So, I opened up This Is Not the Story You Think It Is by Laura Munson* to, of course, the last page. I always read the last page of my books first, so I know what's coming. I do it for the same reason that I often read the plot of movies and tv series on Wikipedia before I watch them.** I don't think that it spoils them for me (unless the ending itself is disappointing). I just like to absorb stories with the conclusion in mind. It helps me to comprehend them better, as a whole.

Back on topic... at the end of Laura Munson's novel I found this beautiful love poem that I want to share.

Older Love

His wife has asthma

so he only smokes outdoors

or late at night with head

and shoulders well into

the fireplace, the mesquite and oak

heat bright against his face.

Does it replace the heat

that has wandered from love

back into the natural world?

But then the shadow passion casts

is much longer than passion,

stretching with effort from year to year.

Outside tonight hard wind and sleet

from three bald mountains,

and on the hearth before his face

the ashes we’ll all become,

soft as the back of a woman’s knee.

— Jim Harrison, from Saving Daylight

(via Dragonfly's Poetry)

* Sarah Wilson interviewed Laura for this column, one of my favourites.

** Thankfully, I didn't do this before watching Remember Me (starring Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin). Please don't.