Hi! I was Googling for a May Sarton poem I know and came across this W&R newsletter attributing it, or lines clearly adapted from it, to Barbara Vaughn.
http://www.uuwr.org/WOMUUNWEB/WOMUUNWEB-21-Fall-2005.pdf
Barbara's words, as quoted in the newsletter:
The Woman I am Becoming
Now I am becoming all
I am meant to be.
Its taken time, many years,
Many places. Now to stand still,
To revel in the silence.
My poems, my words
Shape the shaper.
All fuses, falls into place
From thought to desire to action.
I watch, reflect, enjoy, savor
My work, my love my time, my place
Gathered into one intense me,
Made so and rooted so by love.
- Barbara J. Vaughn
Sarton's poem:
Now I Become Myself
Now I become myself. It's taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
"Hurry, you will be dead before--"
(What? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem, is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!
The black shadow on the paper
Is my hand; the shadow of a word
As thought shapes the shaper
Falls heavy on the page, is heard.
All fuses now, falls into place
From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face
Gathered into one intense
Gesture of growing like a plant.
As slowly as the ripening fruit
Fertile, detached, and always spent,
Falls but does not exhaust the root,
So all the poem is, can give,
Grows in me to become the song,
Made so and rooted so by love.
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the Sun!
I know it is 4 years ago now, but it lives on the internet. Perhaps you could publish a correction in the next newsletter.
Take care,
Amy
Editor's Note: Thanks, Amy! And, we've corrected the original page to read "adapted from May Sarton."