gift

This is one of my most favorite poems.

 Gift

       You tell me that silence

       is nearer to peace than poems

       but if for my gift

       I brought you silence

       (for I know silence)

       you would say

This is not silence
this is another poem

       and you would hand it back to me.

by Leonard Cohen

you can find it in Poems and Songs from Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets series, at your favorite independent bookstore, this one.