The Poem
Unraveling a Mystery
In the manila envelope containing reviews of Land of the Free, there was a single sheet of notebook paper, folded in fourths. I opened it to discover a poem, typewritten, and signed in pencil, ‘A’. It is a lovely poem, and Annie and I had no way of knowing if Archie had written the poem for Louise, or if it was given to her within the scope of her secretarial work for him. If that were the case, though, as in other examples within The Box, there would likely be a handwritten note from Archie in the margins, requesting her feedback or editorial suggestions. Photo and transcription below.
Time itself has returned there.
Seven nights in this town.
I have waked from sleep to the sound of the
Leaves where the cottonwoods were.
Time has left me and gone
To that changeless and unchanged country.
Out of my sleep I am drawn there.
I wake and am blind with the sun.
Time itself has returned.
It is not I who remember.
Even the trees - the trembling
Light in the trees has returned to me.
You who stood by the leaves then -
Time has not ruffled your hair.
You have not moved nor has even
The grass stirred by you carelessly.
This is no dream I dream.
I have wakened the seventh night
To a gone sun and sight of your
Mouth…….I have not dreamed it.
I was hoping to find an online database of MacLeish poems, but no such luck. I checked out as many of his poetry books from the library as I could find and browsed through them. I Googled and Googled some more to try and find out if it had ever been published. I had to finally accept that we’d never know for sure.
And then, in June of 2023, I was on a special trip with my two children to Portland, to mark my youngest’s graduation from high school and soon departure from the nest. Unfortunately, I sustained a concussion a few days before we left (in a head vs. open bathroom cabinet battle I lost, badly), and while we did have a lovely time overall, I was definitely suffering throughout the week.
On our first day there, we went to “the world’s largest independent bookstore,” Powell’s Books. I wandered around, a bit too dizzy to really be looking in earnest for anything, but then had the thought that I should check for MacLeish books. I did just that, and discovered a slim volume that my numerous Google searches hadn’t turned up - Public Speech: Poems by Archibald MacLeish, published by Boriswood in London, September 1936, and dedicated to his wife, Ada.
At the end of the book was a poem that felt very similar to the poem from The Box. They are far from identical but definitely have strong similarities. Interestingly, the poem in Public Speech is the 10th poem in a series of 10, collectively titled, “The Woman on the Stair.” Was Louise that woman? The year of publication, 1936, is within the time that she was his personal secretary. I have not, however, found any mention of the single poem or the book between the two of them in their correspondence. So, the mystery is not completely unraveled, and likely never will be. On the surface it certainly seems to be a romantic gesture.