The poet Philip Booth (1925 - 2007) was first published in book form by Viking's legendary editorial advisor Malcolm Cowley in 1950. His numerous books of poetry included Letters from a Distant Land, The Islanders, Weather and Edges, Margins, Available Light, Before Sleep, Relations, Selves, Pairs, and Lifelines: Selected Poems 1950 - 1999. Booth was a fellow of the American Academy of Poets.

Booth's eighth poetry collection, with its evocations of compassion, tenderness and invading darkness, implies that redemption will come only from having loved well and wisely. Publishers Weekly remarked, "Booth is a traveler keenly, almost mystically, aware that 'how you get there is where you'll arrive.' "