and God was there like an island I had not rowed to, still ignorant of Him, my arms, and my legs worked, and I grew, I grew, I wore rubies and bought tomatoesand now, in my middle age, about nineteen in the head I'd say, I am rowing, I am rowingthough the oarlocks stick and are rustyand the sea blinks and rollslike a worried eyebal, but I am rowing, I am rowing, though the wind pushes me backand I know that that island will not be perfect, it will have the flaws of life, the absurdities of the dinner table, but there will be a doorand I will open itand I will get rid of the rat insdie me, the gnawing pestilential rat. God will take it with his two handsand embrace it
Anne SextonAbout author
- Author's profession: Poet
- Nationality: american
- Born: November 9, 1928
- Died: October 4, 1974