Late in the day

The Old Music

I sought a newer music,

but it rang false and wrong.

I'd find a tune and lose it,

hearing an older song.

I'd find a tune and lose it,

and always, all day long,

among my thoughts and doings

half heard some older song.

Among my thoughts and doings

a tune would ring out strong,

yet change when I pursued it,

lost in that older song.

The tunes of my own choosing 

all sounded false and wrong.

I sought a newer music,

I found an older song.

Ursula K. Le Guin

Late in the day, poems 2010-2014

PM Press, 2016

ISBN 978 262963 122 6