A Day Comes
By Jane Hirshfield, from After: poems
when the mouth grows tired
of saying “I.”
Yet it is occupied
still by a self which must speak.
Which still desires,
is curious.
Which believes it has also a right.
What to do?
The tongue consults with the teeth
it knows will survive
both mouth and self,
which grin—it is their natural pose—
and say nothing.
