Sing To It

At the end, he said, no metaphors! Nothing is like anything else.

Except he said to me before he said that, Make your hands a
hammock for me. So there was one.

He said, Not even the rain - he quoted the poet - not even the
rain has such small hands. So there was another.

At the end, I wanted to comfort him. But what I said was, Sing
to it. The Arabian proverb: When danger approaches, sing to it.

Except I said to him before that, No metaphors! No one is like
anyone else. And he said, Please.

So -- at the end, I made my hands a hammock for him.

My arms, the trees.


-- by Amy Hempel

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I think this poem is so powerful...and a little heart wrenching. I found it weird when I showed it to people and they looked at me like, "yeah? And??". I guess we interpret poetry the way we want...