“
Do not think I am no grateful for your small
kindness to me.
I like small kindnesses.
In fact I actually prefer them to the more
substantial kindness, that is always eyeing you,
like a large animal on a rug,
until your whole life reduces
to nothing but waking up morning after morning
cramped, and the bright sun shining on its tusks.
”-Louise Glück-Gratitude
Louise Glück, The House on Marshland
The Ecco Press, New York (1975), p. 17
also The First Five Books of Poems
Carcanet Press, Manchester, UK, 1997, p. 75