Never Again The Same in  General   

Speaking of sunsets,
last night's was shocking.
I mean, sunsets aren't supposed to frighten you, are they?
Well, this one was terrifying.
Sure, it was beautiful, but far too beautiful.
It wasn't natural.
One climax followed another and then another
until your knees went weak
and you couldn't breathe.
The colors were definitely not of this world,
peaches dripping opium,
pandemonium of tangerines,
inferno of irises,
Plutonian emeralds,
all swirling and churning, swabbing,
like it was playing with us,
like we were nothing,
as if our whole lives were a preparation for this,
this for which nothing could have prepared us
and for which we could not have been less prepared.
The mockery of it all stung us bitterly.
And when it was finally over
we whimpered and cried and howled.
And then the streetlights came on as always
and we looked into one another's eyes--
ancient caves with still pools
and those little transparent fish
who have never seen even one ray of light.
And the calm that returned to us
was not even our own.

By James Tate

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Other poems by James Tate:

• A Knock On The Door
• Days of Pie and Coffee
• Dream On
• Goodtime Jesus
• Head of a White Woman Winking
• Like A Scarf
• Loyalty
• More Later, Less The Same
• My Felisberto
• My Great Great Etc. Uncle Patrick Henry
• Never Again The Same
• Non-Stop
• Restless Leg Syndrome
• Shut Up And Eat Your Toad
• Success Comes To Cow Creek
• The Definition of Gardening
• The New Ergonomics
• The Wrong Way Home
• Thinking Ahead To Possible Options And A Worst-Cas