And Then There Is That Incredible Moment,

when you realize what you're reading,

what's being revealed to you, how it is not

what you expected, what you thought

you were reading, where you thought you were heading.

Then there is that incredible knowing

that surges up in you, speeding

your heart; and you swear you will keep on reading,

keep on writing until you find another not going

where you thought—and until you have taken

someone on that ride, so that they take in

their breath, so that they let out their

sigh, so that they will swear

they will not rest until they too

have taken someone the way they were taken by you.

                                  for Agha Shahid Ali

Kate Light

From The Laws of Falling Bodies, Story Line Press, © 1997,
co-winner of the 1997 Nicholas Roerich Prize.  Reprinted by
permission of the author.