Anna Lewis: “What Else Is There”
WHAT ELSE IS THERE
between the landing
and the stair;
within thin cups
reposed on saucers;
after we have tidied up;
before we linger
in the hall;
beyond our finger
tips, like matches
missed; or, once we’ve burned
first, bitter batches—
what else have we
as sky leans in
to grace our trees
and sooner gives
itself to later— but this
one life that’s more,
almost, than we can bear?
Poems and essays by Anna Lewis have appeared in Yale Review Online, The Washington Post, Tahoma Literary Review, First Things, MEASURE, and elsewhere.