Keeping Quiet

By Robert Bly

A friend of mine says that every war
Is some violence in childhood coming closer.
Those whoppings in the shed weren’t a joke.
On the whole, it didn’t turn out well.
This has been going on for thousands
Of years! It doesn’t change.
Something
Happened to me, and I can’t tell
Anyone, so it will happen to you.

“Keeping Quiet” by Robert Bly from Talking into the Ear of a Donkey. © W.W. Norton & Company, 2012.