“I think as I age, I’m becoming more historical.”
—Sylvia Plath, from a 1962 interview
Not what you might think at first but simply that
She was beginning to read more history,
Nothing more than that.
.
2012 and now looking at a photograph of her,
Young and looking so vivacious
Some fifty years back, it’s hard to imagine
How that lovely head could have
Put an end to it all—
.
(So terrible a timeworn phrase,
To be avoided at all costs)
.
Yet the longer and harder you look,
You cannot help but see
Her eyes are trying hard
To focus on whatever it was
That made it all so easy.
—Sylvia Plath, from a 1962 interview
Not what you might think at first but simply that
She was beginning to read more history,
Nothing more than that.
.
2012 and now looking at a photograph of her,
Young and looking so vivacious
Some fifty years back, it’s hard to imagine
How that lovely head could have
Put an end to it all—
.
(So terrible a timeworn phrase,
To be avoided at all costs)
.
Yet the longer and harder you look,
You cannot help but see
Her eyes are trying hard
To focus on whatever it was
That made it all so easy.
