Not by Sophie Cabot Black

Not

by Sophie Cabot Black

that you are unloved

but that you love

and must decide which

to remember; tracks left 

in the field, a language

of going away or coming back--

and to look up

from the single mind,  

to let untangle 

the far-off snow

from sky

until no longer

held as proof

is also where birds

find agreement

strung along branches

each with their own song

for the other,

every note used

to sing anyway--

how to hold the already

as the not yet 

About This Poem

"This was written for a friend who kept asking me if anyone would ever love her. Always that question, and what is there to say except to endure enough to see what happens. Maybe even to be brave enough to start first, to love without expectation, even hope."

--Sophie Cabot Black

Sophie Cabot Black is the author of three books of poetry. Her most recent is The Exchange: Poems (Graywolf Press, 2013). She divides her time between New York City and rural Connecticut.