By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept

by Elizabeth Smart

I am indeed and mortally pierced with the seeds of love.

We can include the world in our love, and no irritations can disrupt it, not even envy.

happiness as inexhaustible as the ocean,

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death.

I am more vulnerable than the princess for whom seven mattresses could not conceal the pea. It is not the certainties which love cannot surmount, but the doubts the terrible doubts that make Vesuvius in my stomach.

By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept: I will not be placated by the mechanical motions of existence, nor find consolation in the solicitude of waiters who notice my devastated face. Sleep tries to seduce me by promising a more reasonable tomorrow. But I will not be betrayed by such a Judas of fallacy: it betrays everyone: it leads them into death. Everyone acquiesces: everyone compromises.