Hesitation: An Assay

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Sometimes only a slowing

so momentary it can scarcely be seen -

as if a dog

chasing something large and swift and important,

were distracted by the white tremor of an overhead moth.

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Other times a full lifetime tentative, lost.

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The line of the roof in a child's crayoned drawing

can show a hesitation almost fatal.

The rain

comes to it hard or less hard,

knowing nothing of hesitations's rake-toothed debate

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And the two lovers

now concealed around the corner?

They fool no one, not even themselves,

pausing in their own shadows outside a locked door.

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If pleasure requires prolonging, then these lovers.

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Yet slowness alone is not to be confused

with the scent of the plum tree just before it opens.

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~ Jane Hirshfield

from After


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