The Impoverished Student to His Love

We shall enjoy it.

As for him who finds

fault, may silliness

and sorrow take him!

-Sappho

Come live with me and be my love

And we will all the pleasures prove,

And we'll not let the cynic's tongue

Prevent our youth from being young.

Let all the old ones laugh and gape;

Oblivious, we will escape.

Let them be kept like tired sheep;

Untethered we will find our sleep.

Without the help of valium

Or hypnotist, if you will come.

We each will take advanced degrees

In impracticability;

Instead of theses, we will write

Our own bad sonnets, then recite,

Sans footnotes, poems of Marvell, Donne,

Chris Marlowe, Poe, and Dickinson.

We will eschew psychiatrists.

We'll make up songs, not reading lists.

We will depart to well kept dreams

And let them worry how it seems.

Once away from this dark-glass place,

We'll see each other face to face.

And though my pen grows still and dumb,

My heart still prays that you will come.

Richard Matthews

1979

books

capture catch can't

my hearts rhapsody

in a single sun-streaked instant

&

how much time

from then to now

&

what has changed?

even in the cold wind with numb

fingers the sun strikes me dumb

i am frozen unable to digest

the little lines of ink below me

but the tragicomic world stops

with me trying to explain the

fullness of the empty vessel

the coldness of space

the empty house on stilts of A

the womb of O

&

the magic of creation.

the ink's only seen on

the snowy blank tundra

when i start again (

and the world with me)

a tear rolls down my cheek

as the little lines of ink,

little mummies of memory,

find their way in and speak

of true sadness

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

W.H. Davies

1911