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" Hands full of sand,
I say: take this,
this is what I have saved;
I earned this with my genius,
and because I love you...

Take this, hurry.
I am dropping everything
and then I listened:
I was not saying anything;
out of all that had gone into
the composition of the language
and what I knew of it
I had chiselled these words
- take this, hurry-
and you could not hear me.
I had said nothing.
And then I am leaving,

making ready to go to another street,
when you, mingled between sleep
and delirium, turned

and handed me an empty sack:
Take this, my friend;
I am not coming back.
The ghost of a flower poised on your lip "

James Tate


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James Tate quote : Hands full of sand,<br />I say: take this,<br />this is what I have saved;<br />I earned this with my genius,<br />and because I love you...<br /><br />Take this, hurry.<br />I am dropping everything<br />and then I listened:<br />I was not saying anything;<br />out of all that had gone into<br />the composition of the language<br />and what I knew of it<br />I had chiselled these words<br />- take this, hurry-<br />and you could not hear me.<br />I had said nothing.<br />And then I am leaving,<br /><br />making ready to go to another street,<br />when you, mingled between sleep<br />and delirium, turned<br /><br />and handed me an empty sack:<br />Take this, my friend;<br />I am not coming back.<br />The ghost of a flower poised on your lip