By walking I found out
Where I was going.
By intensely hating, how to love.
By loving, whom and what to love.
By grieving, how to laugh from the belly.
Out of infirmity, I have built strength.
Out of untruth, truth.
From hypocrisy, I wove directness.
Almost now I know who I am.
Almost I have the boldness to be that man.
Another step
And I shall be where I started from.
— Irving Layton, A Wild Peculiar Joy, McClelland & Stewart, 2004
Irving Layton’s poetry has been described as artful, elegant and honest. As Leonard Cohen once said about Irving Layton, “I taught him how to dress. He taught me how to live forever.”
Listen to Irving Layton read this poem.
