Man Eating (Monday Poem)

by Jane Kenyon


The man at the table across from mine
is eating yoghurt. His eyes, following
the progress of the spoon, cross briefly
each time it nears his face. Time,

and the world with all its principalities,
might come to an end as prophesied
by the Apostle John, but what about
this man, so completely present

to the little carton with its cool,
sweet food, which has caused no animal
to suffer, and which he is  eating
with a pearl-white plastic spoon.




from Otherwise, by Jane Kenyon
1996, Graywolf Press