Inspired Poems

Confession
By Louise Glück

To say I’m without fear--
It wouldn’t be true.
I’m afraid of sickness, humiliation.
Like anyone, I have dreams,
But I’ve learned to hide them,
To protect myself
From fulfillment: all happiness
Attracts the Fates’ anger
They are sisters, savages--
In the end they have
no emotion but envy

My Confession
(Inspired by Louise Glück's “Confession”) 

I said I was without courage.
I was lying, for I am very courageous.
I fear nothing: not death,
not embarrassment, not loss.
I have dreams,
just like you do,
but I do not hide my dreams, for I
hope to fulfill them.
So my happiness will
attract the Fate sisters’ anger.
All they will end up with is envy.

Happiness
By Louise Glück

A man and a woman lie on a white bed.
It is morning. I think
Soon they will waken.
On the bedside table is a vase
of lilies; sunlight
pools in their throats.
I watch him turn to her
as though to speak her name
but silently, deep in her mouth--
At the window ledge,
once, twice,
a bird calls.
And then she stirs; her body
fills with his breath.

I open my eyes; you are watching me.
Almost over this room
the sun is gliding.
Look at your face, you say,
holding your own close to me
to make a mirror.
How calm you are. And the burning wheel
passes gently over us.

Sadness
(Inspired by Louise Glück's Happiness) 

A man and a woman lie on a white bed.
It is the middle of the night.
They are consumed by the darkness.
The roses on the bedside table lay
lifeless. She turns to him as though to curse
at him, but cannot find the words.
The crickets’ chirping grows louder.
He turns around. 

The first thing he sees as he awakes
late this night is me starring at him; there
is hatred in my eyes. The darkness
around us grows even darker.
Say nothing, I say to him before
turning back over. How stressed I am.