She bore a great weight in the world.
\nShe cited all the injustices of her life
\nin a book,
\nall the slights and pain.
\nThere was no chapter for happiness,
\nno voices that promised love,
\nno mysteries to be solved
\ncovered with the blue cape of desire.
\nHer eyes were beautiful,
\nbut could not see.
\nThe flowers had gone into the ocean
\nand never returned,
\nand I asked her how the book was coming.<\/p>\n
Did it enlighten her?
\nDid it relieve her day of its shadows?
\nDid it justify something?
\nDid spring grow beautiful
\nin the frost of its innocence?
\nDid summer smooth her hair
\nwith its breezes?
\nDid she tell of fall\u2019s festivals and dances?
\nAnd did winter cover her face
\nwith its veil of white,
\na new bride?
\nDid these get remembered in her book?
\nDid she keep her childhood
\nlike a rose pressed in its pages?<\/p>\n
And then I saw the emptiness of her eyes.
\nThey cast no shadow.
\nThey saw nothing that begged to be seen,
\nand I asked gently,
\nwhy not take a slight, an insult, a grievance,
\nand go to the shore,
\nand cast them one by one into the sea,
\nnever to be remembered,
\nretrieved,
\nwashed up on the sand,
\nuntil the book became light as a feather,
\na bird ready to fly.
\nAnd for an instant a star
\ncame into her eyes,
\nbut its sky was too vast
\ntoo huge,
\nand it disappeared
\nin the ink of her busy pen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
She bore a great weight in the world. She cited all the injustices of her life in a book, all the slights and pain. There…<\/p>\n