Things I Didn't Know I Loved – Katelyn Wang '23

(after Nazim Hikmet)

it’s 2021 July 23rd

I’m sitting next to by window on a new chair

sun atop the Earth

I never knew I liked

the sun rising as if pulled by a yoyo

I don’t like

believing in nature as mechanical

I didn’t know I loved the coyotes

can someone who isn’t a wolf do so

I’ve never howled to the moon

it must be my only canine fantasy

and here I’ve loved wind for as long as it’s blown

whether at me or away from

Tides are pushed by more powerful ones

and some collect petals that accidentally land in my palms

I know you can’t stare at the sun for too long

I know the moon cries tears you can’t catch

I know we live to see quite a few sunrises but will never

outlive the wolves

I know this scares uncertain people

and will trouble those that are still alive

I know I am not the only one to have stargazed the sun

and will not be the last

I didn’t know I loved the sun so much until I had to

realize my days are numbered while sitting next

to the window in my new chair watching it set

as if churning a clock

Art: "Outlandish Visions" by Ellen Wang '25