If you don’t get too close to people you can’t disappoint them,
which would be so much worse
than letting them disappoint you.

To the extent that you gain
a perch that means other people look up to you,
to just that extent you can never
tell them how you feel.

You can warble, or
follow a siren, or a Shenandoah
vireo, into the shade, or take
advice from the lights: be
a child, or be like a child.
You will want for nothing, and you will never be heard.

Copyright Credit: Stephanie Burt, “Advice from the Lights” from Advice from the Lights. Copyright © 2017 by Stephanie Burt. Used with the permission of Graywolf Press.