The Silver Lily by Louise Glück
The Silver Lily
Louise GlückThe nights have grown cool again, like the nights
of early spring, and quiet again. Will
speech disturb you? We’re
alone now; we have no reason for silence.Can you see, over the garden—the full moon rises.
I won’t see the next full moon.In spring, when the moon rose, it meant
time was endless. Snowdrops
opened and closed, the clustered
seeds of the maples fell in pale drifts.
White over white, the moon rose over the birch tree.
And in the crook, where the tree divides,
leaves of the first daffodils, in moonlight
soft greenish-silver.We have come too far together toward the end now
to fear the end. These nights, I am no longer even certain
I know what the end means. And you, who’ve been with a man—after the first cries,
doesn’t joy, like fear, make no sound?
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in The Wild Iris by Louise Glück, published by Ecco , 1992. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT LOUISE GLüCK
Louise Glück was born in New York, New York, on April 22, 1943, and grew up on Long Island. She is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Faithful and Virtuous Night (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014), which won the 2014 National Book Award in Poetry; Averno (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006), a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award in Poetry; and Vita Nova (Ecco Press, 1999), winner of Boston Book Review’s Bingham Poetry Prize and The New Yorker’s Book Award… (more)
Read more poems by Louise Glück • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
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