Samuel Menashe: "Rue"

For what I did

And did not do
And do without
In my old age
Rue, not rage
Against that night
We go into,
Sets me straight
On what to do
Before I die—
Sit in the shade,
Look at the sky



"Rue" by Samuel Menashe, from Samuel Menashe: New and Selected Poems, edited by Christopher Ricks. © The Library of America, 2005.

Art credit: Untitled digitally manipulated image, perhaps by Jack Smyth (originally color).