A winner of many awards, Linda Gregg’s lyrical poetry is often admired for its ability to convey grief, desire, and longing with electrifying craftsmanship and poise. W.S. Mervin, a celebrated poet, has praised Gregg’s poems, observing, “They are original in the way that really matters: they speak clearly of their source. They are inseparable from the surprising, unrolling, eventful, pure current of their language, and they convey at once the pain of individual loss, a steady and utterly personal radiance.”

‘The Light Continues’ is one of my favorite poems by Linda Gregg. Read it more than once, and slowly to soak in its quiet, profound message.

Every evening, an hour before
the sun goes down, I walk toward
its light, wanted to be altered.
Always in quiet, the air still.
Walking up the straight empty road
and then back. When the sun
is gone, the light continues
high up in the sky for a while.
When I return, the moon is there.
Like a changing of the guard.
I don’t expect the light
to save me, but I do believe
in the ritual. I believe
I am being born a second time
in this very plain way.

~ Linda Gregg (1942-2019)