Every morning the sad girl brings her three sheep
and two lambs laggardly to the top of the valley,
past my stone hut and onto the mountain to graze.
She turned twelve last year and it was legal
for the father to take her out of school. She knows
her life is over. The sadness makes her fine,
makes me happy. Her old red sweater makes
the whole valley ring, makes my solitude gleam.
I watch from hiding for her sake. Knowing I am
there is hard on her, but it is the focus of her days.
She always looks down or looks away as she passes
in the evening. Except sometimes when, just before
going out of sight behind the distant canebrake,
she looks quickly back. It is too far for me to see,
but there is a moment of white if she turns her face.
(Jack Gilbert)
More Poetry from Jack Gilbert:
Jack Gilbert Poems based on Topics: Fathers, Sadness, Sense & Perception, Education, Life, Past, Faces, Happiness- Portrait Number Five: Against A New York Summer (Jack Gilbert Poem)
- Tear It Down (Jack Gilbert Poem)
- The Forgotten Dialect Of The Heart (Jack Gilbert Poem)
- In Dispraise Of Poetry (Jack Gilbert Poem)
- Searching For Pittsburgh (Jack Gilbert Poem)
- Poetry Is A Kind Of Lying (Jack Gilbert Poem)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Life Poems, Sadness Poems, Faces Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Happiness Poems, Past Poems, Education Poems, Fathers PoemsBased on Keywords: graze, hut, sweater, legal, laggardly, canebrake
- The Troubadour. Canto 1 (Letitia Elizabeth Landon Poems)
- Mr. Hosea Biglow's Speech In March Meeting (James Russell Lowell Poems)
- Advice, To Search For The Lord Jesus Christ (Rees Prichard Poems)
- Adam: A Sacred Drama. Act 3. (William Cowper Poems)
- The Campaign, A Poem, To His Grace The Duke Of Marlborough (Joseph Addison Poems)