Reader

“We were supposed to be, all of us,
a circle, a line at every point
equally weighted or tensed, equally
close to the center. I saw it
differently. In my mind, my parents
were the circle; my sister and I
were trapped inside.”
― Louise Glück, The Seven Ages: Bold and Masterful Poems on Death, Metamorphosis, and Embracing the Inevitable

“It is like losing a year of your life.
To what would you lose a year of your life?”
― Louise Glück, Averno

“My soul
shattered with the strain
of trying to belong to earth-”
― Louise Glück, Poems, 1962-2012

“Was it the sea? Responding, maybe,
to celestial force? To be safe,
I prayed. I tried to be a better person.
Soon it seemed to me that what began as terror and matured into moral narcissism might have become in fact
actual human growth. Maybe
this is what my friends meant, taking my hand, telling me they understood
the abuse, the incredible shit I accepted,
implying (so I once thought) I was a little sick
to give so much for so little.
Whereas they meant I was good (clasping my hand intensely)
a good friend and person, not a creature of pathos.”
― Louise Glück, The Seven Ages: Bold and Masterful Poems on Death, Metamorphosis, and Embracing the Inevitable