Litany by Billy Collins
You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine…
~Jacues Crickillon
You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine,
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.
However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the houses of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general’s head,
but you are not even close
to being a field of cornflowers at dusk.
And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry, I’m not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and – somehow – the wine.
As only Billy Collins could tell it.
When I researched analysis on this I was kind of bummed – found out that it was kind of a joke on his part – a tease about how silly things get in the poetry world with imagary. For me – it’s a Jesus poem, straight up…. consubstantiation and the whole nine yards 🙂 .