๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐บ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ
by Li-Young LeeOriginal Language English
When I lay my head in my mother's lap
I think how day hides the stars,
the way I lay hidden once, waitingโจinside my mother's singing to herself. And I remember โจhow she carried me on her backโจbetween home and the kindergarten,โจonce each morning and once each afternoon.
I don't know what my mother's thinking.
When my son lays his head in my lap, I wonder:
Do his father's kisses keep his father's worries
from becoming his? I think, Dear God, and remember
there are stars we haven't heard from yet:
They have so far to arrive. Amen,
I think, and I feel almost comforted.
I've no idea what my child is thinking.
Between two unknowns, I live my life.
Between my mother's hopes, older than I am
by coming before me, and my child's wishes, older than I am
by outliving me. And what's it like?
Is it a door, and good-bye on either side?
A window, and eternity on either side?
Yes, and a little singing between two great rests.
 | -- from Book of My Nights, by Li-Young Lee |
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| Book of My Nights | Rose | The City in Which I Love You | Behind My Eyes: Poems | |
