The Night Migrations

Louise Glück

 
This is the moment when you see again
the red berries of the mountain ash
and in the dark sky
the birds' night migrations.
It grieves me to think
the dead won't see them—
these things we depend on,
they disappear.
What will the soul do for solace then?
I tell myself maybe it won't need
these pleasures anymore;
maybe just not being is simply enough,
hard as that is to imagine.
 
From Averno by Louise Glück, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Copyright (c) 2006 by Louise Glück. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

Poems by This Author

A Myth of Devotion by Louise Glück
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October (section I) by Louise Glück
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Persephone the Wanderer by Louise Glück
In the first version, Persephone...
The Myth of Innocence by Louise Glück
One summer she goes into the field as usual
The Red Poppy by Louise Glück
The great thing
The Wild Iris by Louise Glück
At the end of my suffering
Vespers by Louise Glück
In your extended absence, you permit me
Witchgrass by Louise Glück


Further Reading

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