els efectes de l'electricitat

when you fall in love, my sister said
it's like being stuck by lightning.
She was speaking hopefully,
to draw the attention of the lightning.
I reminded her that shee was repeating exactly
our mother's formula, which she and I
had discussed in childhood, because we both felt
that what we are looking at in the adults
were the effects not of lightning
but of the electric chair.


Part 4. del poema Prisma de Louise Glück, al llibre Averno.