In our family, there were two saints, <br />my aunt and my grandmother. <br />But their lives were different. <br /> <br />My grandmother's was tranquil, even at the end. <br />She was like a person walking in calm water; <br />for some reason <br />the sea couldn't bring itself to hurt her. <br />When my aunt took the same path, <br />the waves broke over her, they attacked her, <br />which is how the Fates respond <br />to a true spiritual nature. <br /> <br />My grandmother was cautious, conservative: <br />that's why she escaped suffering. <br />My aunt's escaped nothing; <br />each time the sea retreats, someone she loves is taken away. <br /> <br />Still she won't experience <br />the sea as evil. To her, it is what it is: <br />where it touches land, it must turn to violence.<br /><br />Louise Glück<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/saints-2/
