Nocturne by Louise Glück

<p>Production and Sound Design by Kevin Seaman</p><p> </p><p>Nocturne</p><p>BY LOUISE GLÜCK</p><p> </p><p>Mother died last night,</p><p>Mother who never dies.</p><p> </p><p>Winter was in the air,</p><p>many months away</p><p>but in the air nevertheless.</p><p> </p><p>It was the tenth of May.</p><p>Hyacinth and apple blossom</p><p>bloomed in the back garden.</p><p> </p><p>We could hear</p><p>Maria singing songs from Czechoslovakia —</p><p> </p><p>How alone I am —</p><p>songs of that kind.</p><p> </p><p>How alone I am,</p><p>no mother, no father —</p><p>my brain seems so empty without them.</p><p> </p><p>Aromas drifted out of the earth;</p><p>the dishes were in the sink,</p><p>rinsed but not stacked.</p><p> </p><p>Under the full moon</p><p>Maria was folding the washing;</p><p>the stiff  sheets became</p><p>dry white rectangles of  moonlight.</p><p> </p><p>How alone I am, but in music</p><p>my desolation is my rejoicing.</p><p> </p><p>It was the tenth of May</p><p>as it had been the ninth, the eighth.</p><p> </p><p>Mother slept in her bed,</p><p>her arms outstretched, her head</p><p>balanced between them.</p><p> </p>