The Private Life Quotes

“. . .because we had survived
sisters and brothers, daughters and sons,
we discovered bones that rose
from the dark earth and sang
as white birds in the trees

Because the story of our life
becomes our life

Because each of us tells the same story
but tells it differently
and none of us tells it the same way twice . . (from, Why We Tell Stories)”
― Lisel Mueller, The Private Life: Poems

“this body
is home, my childhood
is buried here, my sleep
rises and sets inside,
desire
crested and wore itself thin
between these bones—
I live here.”
― Lisel Mueller, The Private Life: Poems