There comes the strangest moment in your life,
when everything you thought before breaks free —
what you relied upon, as ground-rule and as rite
looks upside down from how it used to be.
Skin’s gone pale, your brain is shedding cells,
you question every tenet you set down;
obedient thoughts have turned to infidels
and every verb desires to be a noun.
I want—my want. I love—my love. I’ll stay
with you. I thought transitions were the best,
but I want what’s here to never go away.
I’ll make my peace, my bed, and kiss this breast . . .
Your heart’s in retrograde. You simply have no choice.
Things people told you turn out to be true.
You have to hold that body, hear that voice.
You’d have sworn no one knew you more than you.
How many people thought you’d never change?
But here you have. It’s beautiful. It’s strange.
— Kate Light
Dear Kate Light,
I love this poem. The last line has rung in my ears for the last two years since I first discovered your work in a poetry textbook.
Thank you for this. It keeps my faith alive in modern poetry.
Janet Smith
People do change, I’ve heard as we grow we become more of who we are… Love this poem.
How many people thought you’d never change?
But here you have. It’s beautiful. It’s strange.