Selected Poems Quotes

“And I began to understand How there is nothing complicated in this world That is not of my own making,”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems

“How long is a man’s life, finally? Is it a thousand days, or only one? One week, or a few centuries? How long does a man’s death last? And what do we mean when we say, ‘gone forever’?”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems

“Isolation disfigures men Who think their separateness superior.”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems

“When being lost seems So much more like being found, And you find all that is lost Is what weighed you down.”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems

“scents gossip of previous winters.”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems

“Sleep now, Alone in the sleeves of grief, Listening to clothes falling And your flesh touching God;”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems

“And also it happens that there is nowhere to go and then There is somewhere to go, Then you have bypassed. And the years flare up and are gone, Quicker than a minute.”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems

“It is the same old story. Night owns the copyright”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems

“Afraid perhaps to come to where I’ve stopped in case you find into some slow and glowing countryside yourself escaping”
― Brian Patten, Selected Poems