happiness
happiness
by louise gluck
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.
Very introspective work i thought that ‘delves deeper and flies higher’. Poem switches perspectives from objective to subjective (third person to 1st person) between stanzas…that was a delicate touch…but not too subtle to throw or confuse the reader. The part about the face being like a mirror i thought was beautiful and poetically tao. Ending kicked ass! “How calm you are. And the burning wheel passes gently over us.” Relationships need to be addressed more often in poetry i think, although it’s hard to do originally though…i thought this poem was unique and did a good job. The ‘burning wheel’…again with that eastern thought with cycles and repetition and challenges that make life what it is.
Thx Ms. Gluck for the pick-me-up!