One Heart by Li-Young Lee
One Heart
Li-Young LeeLook at the birds. Even flying
is bornout of nothing. The first sky
is inside you, Friend, openat either end of day.
The work of wingswas always freedom, fastening
one heart to every falling thing.
MARGINALIA
Weakness at 3AM: what if I wrote you a letter, just a short one, a little note, asking how you are. Or: I miss you. What if I just sent you a poem, or a song, or Egon Schiele’s Embrace?
I walked away and went to another room, just so I’d stop.
ABOUT LI-YOUNG LEE
Li-Young Lee (he/him) is a poet and the author of The Invention of the Darling (W. W. Norton, 2024); The Undressing (W. W. Norton, 2018); Behind My Eyes (W. W. Norton, 2009); From Blossoms: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe, 2007); Book of My Nights (BOA Editions, 2001), winner of a William Carlos Williams award; The City in Which I Love You (BOA Editions, 1990), winner of a Laughlin Award; and Rose (BOA Editions, 1986), winner of a Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award from New… (more)
Read more poems by Li-Young Lee • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Follow on Twitter • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
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