My nose is flat
From leaning up against the windowpane,
Wondering what they do in there -
The happy people,
...
Once upon a time I was a dancer, wanting to be a nun, and then I was a lover, true, true lover, then a mother. And then I was a widow, single mother, bitter and broken-hearted to the core. Then wed again, and mothering a crowd of shouting boys, who all grew tall and left me, and their father left me too. Now once again a lover, gardener, planter of trees and harvester of stories, and feeder of cats.)
From The Outer Darkness
My nose is flat
From leaning up against the windowpane,
Wondering what they do in there -
The happy people,
The people who belong.
And how did they get in?
They make it look so easy,
But when I try
I bang against the glass.
Me and the June bugs,
Battering against the lighted windowpane,
And dying to get in.