Donald Justice Quotes

“You neither can nor should understand what it means.
Listen, it comes without guitar,
Neither in rags nor in any purple fashion.
And there is nothing in it to comfort you.”

Donald Justice

Poem
Departures (1973)

“Between the lines it must have hurt
To see the neighborhood go down,
Your neighbor in his undershirt
At dusk come out to mow his lawn.”

Donald Justice

To the Unknown Lady Who Wrote the Letters Found In the Hatbox
Night Light (1967)

“Merry the green, the green hill shall be merry.
Hungry, the owlet shall seek out the mouse
And Jack his Joan, but they shall never marryAnd snow shall fly, the big flakes fat and furry.
Lonely, the traveler shall seek out the house,
And Jack his Joan, but they shall never marry.Weary the soldiers go, and come back weary,
Up a green hill and down the withered hill,
And Jack from Joan, but they shall never marry.”

Donald Justice

Another Song
The Summer Anniversaries (1960)

“This poem is not addressed to you.
You may come into it briefly,
But no one will find you here, no one.
You will have changed before the poem will.”

Donald Justice

Poem
Departures (1973)