By SHARON DOLIN

                       —after Rilke 

Yours, still the hardest face to see—
even the mirror lies, with your image
in reverse. To see into your life  
you must look into the life of things:  

take this brass candelabra shaped 
into a circular set of stairs that, 
when lit, sees into you, seizes
hold of your brokenness and  

shows you all growth starts 
with a wound. Think of the earth 
in spring, split open by green shoots.