Poetry in Motion

Austin

First Memory

Louise Glück

Long ago, I was wounded. I lived
to revenge myself
against my father, not
for what he was—
for what I was: from the beginning of time,
in childhood, I thought
that pain meant
I was not loved.
It meant I loved.



"First Memory" from Ararat by Louise Glück. Copyright © 1990. Reprinted with the permission of The Ecco Press.