Don't be agnostic - be something.

Something sinister in the tone Told me my secret must be known: Word I was in the house alone Somehow must have gotten abroad, Word I was in my life alone, Word I had no one left but God.

Nothing gold can stay.

My definition of poetry (if I were forced to give one) would be this: words that have become deeds.

My goal in life is to unite my avocation with my vocation, As my two eyes make one in sight.

I am a writer of books in retrospect. I talk in order to understand; I teach in order to learn.

For me the initial delight is in the surprise of remembering something I didn't know I knew. I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew.