Next Moment

Marie Borroff

Tentative, the finger of the mind
Dabbles the water, future. The water wavers,
Assumes all shapes in seeming, but, being water,
Releases all, remains yet undefined;

To the poised finger passive, seems to hold
All possibles as one, alike existent,
Till by time’s chemistry, sudden the present
Locks into crystal, actual and cold.

Marie Borroff was a scholar, poet, translator, and a Sterling Professor of English at Yale University.
Originally published:
April 1, 1948

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