Vespers

Louise Glück

I know what you planned, what you meant to do, teaching me
to love the world, making it impossible
to turn away completely, to shut it out completely ever again—
it is everywhere; when I close my eyes,
birdsong, scent of lilac in early spring, scent of summer roses:
you mean to take it away, each flower, each connection with earth—
why would you wound me, why would you want me
desolate in the end, unless you wanted me so starved for hope
I would refuse to see that finally
nothing was left to me, and would believe instead
in the end you were left to me.

Louise Glück was a poet and essayist. She was the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry and Professor in the Practice at Yale University. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020.