By Hélène Bessette, from Lili Is Crying, which will be published next month by New Directions. Translated from the French by Kate Briggs.

It’s like this, says Lili. I left and I came back.
I went and I returned.
I tried. But I’m not made for success.
Others might have succeeded. Not me.
I’m not made for glory.
I’m made for defeat.
I’ll tell you everything.
Because you’re my cousin.
—Naturally, says the shepherd, you can tell me the whole story.
I’m thirty years old and there’s nothing I can’t be…