[1703] Untitled

My way is in the sand flowing
between the shingle and the dune
the summer rain rains on my life,
on me my life harrying fleeing
to its beginning to its end

My peace is there in the receding mist
when I may cease from treading these long shifting thresholds
and live the space of a door
that opens and shuts


je suis ce cour de sable qui glisse
entre le galet et le dune
le pluie d'etre pleur sur ma vie
sur moi ma vie qui me fuit me poursuit
et finira le jour de son commencement

cher instant je te vois
dan ce rideau de brume qui recule
ou je n'aurai plus a fouler ces long seuils mouvants
et vivrai le temps d'une porte
qui s'ouvre et se referme

	  -- Samuel Beckett

       (1948, from "Collected Poems in English and French")

My first encounter with this poem was as an undergraduate back in the
mid-eighties. Although I almost never studied in the library, the effect of
upcoming finals on the temper of my normally pleasant roommate induced me to
study there one semester. I ended up near the poetry section more by
accident than design. Bored by whatever I was supposed to be studying, I
happened to see an old, thin volume of poems which I started flipping
through. Twenty years later, I can't remember much from any of my classes,
but I can still recite several of those poems (the English versions anyway)
from memory.

Back then, I would have been certain I knew the poem's meaning. Now, I'll
just say that I like how it sounds when recited aloud, its sea imagery, and
the fact that -- while it seems to acknowledge life's futility (those long
shifting thresholds), when I read it I feel some ultimate sense of
rightness about everything.

Beckett is, of course, better known as a playwright than a poet. His most
famous work is Waiting for Godot.

Barbara Kay Bosserman

[Links]

Biography:
  http://www.samuel-beckett.net/speople.html

The parent site is a good collection of Beckett links:
  http://www.samuel-beckett.net/

[this poem is archived, accessible and awaiting your comments at]
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1703.html
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From: "Joanne Nakaya" <kumanakaya@>

I am unfamiliar with Beckett as a poet, although I love his 
play, "Waiting for Godot."  I will now revisit him through his 
poetry.  Thank you!