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Mary Ann Samyn

Mary Ann Samyn

Mary Ann Samyn's most recent books include Beauty Breaks In (New Issues, 2009) and the forthcoming My Life in Heaven, winner of the 2012 FIELD Poetry Prize (Oberlin College Press, 2013). She teaches in the M.F.A. program at West Virginia University.

For Years To Come

Walking in the dawn fog, considering grief.
Especially the grief of what others desire on our behalf.
The long distance of that. The delicate burden.
When did I give up the idea I began with?
I recall learning endurance: my face in that mirror.
Saints are famous for what they have renounced.
That's not what I mean or need.
The rose bushes I planted: will they be the thing?
Sometimes loneliness overcomes me.
Childhood too: what was that all about?
The interior life is life. The roses live there.
I notice as many times a day as it takes.

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