The Tunnel

By Robert Creeley 1926–2005 Robert Creeley

Tonight, nothing is long enough—

time isn’t.

Were there a fire,

it would burn now.

Were there a heaven,

I would have gone long ago.

I think that light

is the final image.

But time reoccurs,

love—and an echo.

A time passes

love in the dark.

Robert Creeley, “The Tunnel” from The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1945-1975. Copyright © 1982 by Robert Creeley. Reprinted by permission of University of California Press.

Source: The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1945-1975 (University of California Press, 1982)

Biography

Once known primarily for his association with the group called the “Black Mountain Poets,” at the time of his death in 2005, Robert Creeley was widely recognized as one of the most important and influential American poets of the twentieth century. His poetry is noted for both its concision and emotional power. Albert Mobilio, writing in the Voice Literary Supplement, observed: “Creeley has shaped his own audience. The much . . .

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