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Thursday, April 30, 2015

A Fable by Louise Glück

A Fable
by Louise Glück

Two women with
the same claim
came to the feet of
the wise king. Two women,
but only one baby.
The king knew
someone was lying.
What he said was
Let the child be
cut in half; that way
no one will go
empty-handed. He
drew his sword.
Then, of the two
women, one
renounced her share:
this was
the sign, the lesson.
Suppose
you saw your mother
torn between two daughters:
what could you do
to save her but be
willing to destroy
yourself—she would know
who was the rightful child,
the one who couldn’t bear
to divide the mother.


Source: Ararat (The Ecco Press, 1990)

4 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I love it!!

Nadia said...

Kathy, me too :) I thought it was a great poem to share on the last day of National Poetry Month. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Lisa said...

Lovely and oh, so true!

Nadia said...

Lisa, yes to both!