hey reblog this with a piece of your favorite poem, please
When we sleep for good, I would like a tree. I would like Ann to have a tree, too. We can be side by side, on one of the hills that we used to explore. My tree will be bigger. I loved him more. Ann is the one he picked first. But he came back for me.
(Rick Bass, from The Odyssey)
Missing someone is like hearing a name sung quietly from somewhere behind you. Even after you know no one is there, you keep looking back until on a silver afternoon like this you find yourself breathing just enough to make a small dent in the air.
–from “Slow Dance” by Tim Seibles
Then it stops like a bird; like a flower, hangs furled: They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it. What matter to me if their star is a world? Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it.
– from “My Star” by Robert Browning
And nearer fast and nearer Doth the red whirlwind come; And louder still and still more loud, From underneath that rolling cloud Is heard the trumpet’s war-note proud, The trampling, and the hum. And plainly and more plainly Now through the gloom appears, Far to left and far to right, In broken gleams of dark-blue light, The long array of helmets bright, The long array of spears.
- Horatius at the Bridge by Thomas Babington Macaulay
Yes, we’d like to clap the camels, to smell the spice, admire her hairy legs and bonny wicked smile, we want to take PhDs in Persian, be vice to her president: we want to help her ask some Difficult Questions she’s shouting for our wisest man to test her mettle: Scour Scotland for a Solomon! Sure enough: from the back of the crowd someone growls: whae do you think y'ur? and a thousand laughing girls and she draw our hot breath and shout
THE QUEEN OF SHEBA!
Kathleen Jamie’s The Queen of Sheba
Someone will probably love you for who you are, not just for who you labor to be. Maybe you’re lost in your skin today. Maybe you’re burning and wish you could tear it all off. Please don’t. You are variously a marvel, an athlete, a wilderness, a source of warmth and a way to learn from fear.
Remember that the right person will never get tired of you even in the worst times
No, they will! But they’ll work through it, or walk away for a bit (i’m talking minutes to hours) and then come back.
People can love you and still need to get away from you for a bit. And there is nothing toxic about that — it’s good, in fact. It helps remind everyone involved that everyone has boundaries, and everyone needs time to themselves.
It’s okay. Calm down before you talk about something that made you angry while your loved one is sick. Be sure of what made you mad so you can discuss it together.
Love isn’t a one-way street, and it’s something that takes work. Part of that work is knowing when you need to step away.
