into places never planned...

Final Notations


it will not be simple, it will not be long
it will take little time, it take all your thought
it will take all your heart, it will take all your breath
it will be short, it will not be simple

it will touch through your ribs, it will take all your heart
it will not be long, it will occupy your thought
as a city is occupied, as a bed is occupied
it will take all your flesh, it will not be simple

You are coming into us who cannot withstand you
you are coming into us who never wanted to withstand you
you are taking parts of us into places never planned
you are going far away with pieces of our lives

it will be short, it will take all your breath
it will not be simple, it will become your will

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The last poem in Adrienne Rich’s An Atlas of the Difficult World is a piece that focuses on self-reflection and change. The poem’s form is an echo that pulls the reader into the closing couplet. The last glimpse of a beautiful book.