First memory

This is the closing poem in the book Ararat.

Orchard (M.A. Reilly, 2014)

First Memory

     --Louise Glück

Long ago, I was wounded. I lived 
to revenge myself 
against my father, not 
for what he was-- 
for what I was: from the beginning of time, 
in childhood, I thought 
that pain meant 
I was not loved. 
It meant I loved.