The Uses of Sorrow

(Le Pont Neuf, Paris by Brassaï, 1899-1984, one
of the many Hungarian photographers who moved
to Paris after World War I)

THE USES OF SORROW

(In my sleep I dreamed this poem.)

Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.

~ Mary Oliver, born 1935, American poet