Tom Harding > Tom's Quotes

“Who’s awake at this hour?
Just the mice rolling their life’s luggage
across the attic floor,
running the gauntlet
between the suitcases and heavy coats,
little refugees sailing
their slim luck in the dark.”
― Tom Harding, Night Work: Selected Poems 2006-2016

“Shadows cross the walls of my heart
like the vacant bedrooms of the city at noon.
We’re reminded we’re alive and that within us
is the whole of the human condition—
the dark heavy pieces of an orchestra at rest.”
― Tom Harding, Afternoon Music

“The grammar of perfection
Has strangled everything
You cannot teach the heart to spell
While it’s learning how to sing.”
― Tom Harding, Afternoon Music