I was just talking this past week about the Francis Bacon aphorism that “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” And I remembered reading this poem, but blanked on the author, so had to — how modern and slightly embarrassing — google about until I found it. It’s by Rutgers professor and noted poet Rachel Hadas, whose work has been shamefully absent from the TSP until now.
The Afterglow
Certainties—truth, beauty, and belief—
go in and out of focus. Mostly out.
Occasional flickers sheet a sky turned dull,
lit up by little else than recollection.
Life is lived both
according to the memory of the flash
and in the dimness of the aftermath.
The tide goes out; comes in.
The light fades low again.
The raw wound of the crater fills with green.
But ah, the afterglow.
And oh,
the undertow.
Another good one with a twist right at the end. Thanks.