Skip to main content

Light Follows Me, a poem by Norbert Krapf


Light Follows Me

Light follows me everywhere
inside this house and outside,
comes in through windows,
bounces off white walls,
lies down on pine floors.

When I drink water I swallow
light, which passes through me
into water. It turns me into
a shadow that lies down.

It wakes me in the morning
as I open my eyes to the east
and feel it on my face. I open
the door and step into it

on a wooden balcony facing
mountains that surround me
and hear prayers streaming
from my mouth for those
I love who are my light.

May I one day transform
into light that shines on others
from above and also within
when they read my poems.

Norbert Krapf, former Indiana Poet Laureate, is the author of thirteen collections, the most recent being "Indiana Hill Country Poems" from Dos Madres Press, which will also bring out "Southwest by Midwest," which includes this poem.