Sylvia

Kindness

by Sylvia Plath

Kindness glides about my house.
 Dame Kindness, she is so nice!
 The blue and red jewels of her rings smoke In the windows
, the mirrors Are filling with smiles.

 What is so real as the cry of a child?
 A rabbit's cry may be wilder But it has no soul.
 Sugar can cure everything, so Kindness says.
 Sugar is a necessary fluid,
 Its crystals a little poultice\

. O kindness, kindness Sweetly picking up pieces!
 My Japanese silks, desperate butterflies,
 May be pinned any minute, anesthetized.

 And here you come, with a cup of tea Wreathed in steam.
 The blood jet is poetry,
 There is no stopping it.
 You hand me two children, two roses.