Do not think I am not grateful for your small
kindness to me.
I like small kindnesses.
In fact I actually prefer them to the more
substantial kindness, that is always eying you
like a large animal on a rug,
until your whole life reduces
to nothing but waking up morning after morning
cramped, and the bright sun shining on its tusks.

Louise Glück, The House on Marshland
The Ecco Press, New York (1975), p. 17
also The First Five Books of Poems
Carcanet Press, Manchester, UK, 1997, p. 75

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Web Links:
Analysis of Poem (Hawaii Pacific University)
Academy of American Poets: Louise Glück
Modern American Poetry: Louise Glück
Poet Gluck picked to teach (Yale Daily News, 2-5-2004)