A Stone, A Leaf, A Door by Thomas Wolfe

These & tens of thousands more flowers have I grown, admired, photographed.  Joy!

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A Stone, A Leaf, A Door by Thomas Wolfe

… A stone, a leaf, an unfound door;

of a stone, a leaf, a door.

And of all the forgotten faces.

Naked and alone we came into exile.

In her dark womb

we did not know our mother’s face;

from the prison of her flesh have we come

into the unspeakable and incommunicable prison

of this earth.

Which of us has known his brother?

Which of us has looked into his father’s heart?

Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent?

Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?

O waste of loss, in the hot mazes, lost,

among the bright stars

on this most weary unbright cinder, lost!

Remembering speechlessly

we seek the great forgotten language,

the lost lane-end into heaven,

a stone, a leaf, an unfound door.

Where? When?

O lost, and by the wind grieved,

ghost, come back again.

Doors are portals to the unknown…