sower
MAGAZINE
Portrait
A child draws the outline of a body.
She draws what she can, but it is white all through,
she cannotfill in what she knows is there.
Within the unsupported line, she knows
that life is missing; she has cut --
one backgroundfrom another; like a child,
she turns to her mother.
And you draw the heart
against the emptiness she has created.
-Louise Gluck