tell yourself what you know
which is nothing
but the tunes your bones play
as you keep going. And you will be able
for once to lie down under the small fire
of winter stars.
And if it happens that you cannot
go on or turn back
and you find yourself
where you will be at the end,
tell yourself
in that final flowing of cold through your limbs
that you love who you are.
—excerpt from "Lines for Winter" by Mark Strand.
