Love Poetry Out Loud

by Robert Alden Rubin

  The next two poems are about getting over lost love. One poet finds it easy. The other doesn’t.

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  Kindred Souls

  During the Edwardian era, when she published, Thomas Hardy called Charlotte Mew “far and away the best living woman poet.” She’s not much remembered today, but she shared with Hardy a poetic vision in which nature, independent of any divine purpose, becomes a common reference by which we define ourselves.

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  I LOOK INTO MY GLASS

  Thomas Hardy

  I look into my glass,

  And view my wasting skin,

  And say, “Would God it came to pass

  My heart had shrunk as thin!”

  For then, I, undistrest

  By hearts grown cold to me,

  Could lonely wait my endless rest

  With equanimity.

  But Time, to make me grieve,

  Part steals, lets part abide;

  And shakes this fragile frame at eve

  With throbbings of noontide.

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  Hearts Grown Full

  Hardy wrote several memorable poems about thrushes. This is not one of those, but it’s memorable in its own right. It may seem like an older man’s poem (Hardy wrote powerful poetry up until the very end, dying in 1928 at age 88), but in fact it’s among his earliest. The heart, it seems, doesn’t age as quickly as the skin.

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  LESSONS LEARNED, AND NOT

  Experience is a powerful teacher, but even with its lessons firmly in mind, people have the bad habit of making the same mistakes over and over again. Neither of these two voices of experience seems completely ready to declare itself immune to the attractions of love.

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  * * *

  Pug = A monkey.

  Robber = An important image for this poem. During this period, robbers and highwaymen (the “gangstas” of their day) were a hazard for travelers — especially a woman on her own.

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  AN ANSWER TO A LOVE LETTER IN VERSE

  Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

  Is it to me, this sad-lamenting strain?

  Are heaven’s choicest gifts bestow’d in vain?

  A plenteous fortune, and a beauteous bride,

  Your love rewarded, and content your pride!

  Yet leaving her — ’tis me that you pursue,

  Without one single charm, but being new.

  How vile is man! How I detest the ways

  Of artful falsehood, and designing praise!

  Tasteless, an easy happiness you slight,

  Ruin your joy, and mischief your delight.

  Why should poor pug (the mimic of your kind)

  Wear a rough chain, and be to box confin’d?

  Some cup perhaps he breaks, or tears a fan,

  While moves unpunish’d the destroyer, man.

  Not bound by vows, and unrestrain’d by shame,

  In sport you break the heart, and rend the fame.

  Not that your art can be successful here,

  Th’ already plunder’d need no robber fear,

  Nor sighs, nor charms, nor flattery can move,

  Too well secur’d against a second love.

  Once, and but once, that devil charm’d my mind,

  To reason deaf, to observation blind,

  I idly hop’d (what cannot love persuade?)

  My fondness equall’d, and my truth repaid,

  Slow to distrust, and willing to believe,

  Long hush’d my doubts, and would my self deceive;

  But oh too soon — this tale would ever last,

  Sleep, sleep my wrongs, and let me think ’em past.

  For you who mourn with counterfeited grief

  And ask so boldly like a begging thief;

  May soon some other nymph inflict the pain

  You know so well, with cruel art to feign,

  Tho’ long you’ve sported with Don Cupid’s dart,

  You may see eyes, and you may feel a heart.

  So the brisk wits who stop the evening coach

  Laugh at the fear that follows their approach,

  With idle mirth, and haughty scorn despise

  The passenger’s pale cheek, and staring eyes;

  But seiz’d by Justice, find a fright no jest

  And all the terror doubled in their breast.

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  It’s an Old Rap, Dawg

  Have some fun and try reading this eighteenth-century poem as if it were a hip-hop lyric. In many ways, the stylized “heroic couplets” of the era resemble today’s rap songs. Montagu was best known as a letter-writer, but she also wrote poetry with a sharp, satirical edge to it.

  Brisk wits = Jovial highway robbers.

  Justice = After they’ve been arrested.

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  SYMPTOM RECITAL

  Dorothy Parker

  I do not like my state of mind;

  I’m bitter, querulous, unkind.

  I hate my legs, I hate my hands,

  I do not yearn for lovelier lands.

  I dread the dawn’s recurrent light;

  I hate to go to bed at night.

  I snoot at simple, earnest folk.

  I cannot take the gentlest joke.

  I find no peace in paint or type.

  My world is but a lot of tripe.

  I’m disillusioned, empty-breasted.

  For what I think, I’d be arrested.

  I am not sick, I am not well.

  My quondam dreams are shot to hell.

  My soul is crushed, my spirit sore;

  I do not like me any more.

  I cavil, quarrel, grumble, grouse.

  I ponder on the narrow house.

  I shudder at the thought of men. …

  I’m due to fall in love again.

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  Mirror, Mirror

  Ah, love! It has been quite a journey. And, as we end our trip through this amorous landscape of love poetry, perhaps we should let Dorothy Parker, denizen of the urban jungle, have the last word, as she diagnoses herself.

  Quondam = Former.

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  INDEX OF TITLES

  48 Hours After You Left 146

  Adam’s Curse 162

  “After great pain, a formal feeling comes” 165

  Aged Lover Discourses in the Flat Style, The 129

  Answer to a Love Letter in Verse, An 187

  Ask Me No More 69

  Bearded Oaks 143

  Birthday, A 82

  Brown Penny 60

  Changed Man, The 96

  “Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers defy” 126

  Coral 124

  December at Yase 180

  Defiance, The 101

  Down, Wanton, Down! 117

  Fire and Ice 164

  For an Amorous Lady 4

  Freedom 182

  Girl in a Library, A 71

  Good Morning, Love! 183

  Good Morrow, The 22

  Good Night 149

  Green 122

  Greeting, The 26

  Her Lips Are Copper Wire 125

  Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, from 65

  How Do I Love Thee? 62

  “I, being born a woman” 49

  “I hear an army charging upon the land” 107

  I Look into My Glass 186

  I So Liked Spring 185

  I Will Not Give Thee All My Heart 105

  I Will Not Let Thee Go 138

  “If I profane with my unworthiest hand” (from Romeo and Juliet) 91

  “Joy of my life, full oft for loving you” 95

  Juke Box Love Song 63

  Letter Home 134

  Light, The 28

  Lingam and the Yoni, The 7

  Litany 2

  Lonely Hearts 47

  Lost Mistress, The 169

  Love Poem 86

  Love Portions 45

  Love Song 52

&
nbsp; Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The 154

  Love Song: I and Thou 50

  Love under the Republicans (or Democrats) 11

  Love: Two Vignettes 12

  Love’s Philosophy 36

  Lullaby 120

  Meeting and Passing 25

  Meeting, The 140

  Neutral Tones 106

  Never Pain to Tell Thy Love 152

  “Not marble nor the gilded monuments” 77

  “Not Marble nor the Gilded Monuments” 78

  Nothing but No and I 19

  Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal 92

  Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd, The 54

  “O Mistress Mine” (from Twelfth Night) 18

  Poem 37

  Poem for Sigmund 119

  Portrait of a Lady 56

  Pucker 40

  Red, Red Rose, A 68

  Resignation 14

  Rival, The 167

  River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter, The 132

  She’s All My Fancy Painted Him 5

  “Sigh No More, Ladies” (from Much Ado About Nothing) 175

  Silentium Amoris 108

  “Since the majority of me” 166

  “Since there’s no help, come, let us kiss and part” 174

  Sleeping with You 171

  somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond 84

  Song of Songs, The (7:1–8:3) 88

  Song: To Celia 67

  Sources of the Delaware 176

  Still Looking Out for Number One 142

  Surprised by Joy 35

  Symptom Recital 189

  Taking Off My Clothes 111

  “That time of year thou mayst in me behold” 148

  “The Twenty-ninth Bather” 32

  Then Came Flowers 100

  Thine Eyes Still Shined 34

  Thou Art My Lute 83

  To an Usherette 10

  To My Dear and Loving Husband 64

  Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, A 102

  Variations on the Word Love 109

  Voice, The 137

  Wet 115

  When We Two Parted 93

  When You Are Old 104

  Where Be Ye Going, You Devon Maid? 58

  “Wild Nights—Wild Nights!” 24

  Wrestling 114

  You Say I Love Not 153

  INDEX OF FIRST LINES

  After great pain, a formal feeling comes 165

  Ah, come with me 10

  All’s over, then: does truth sound bitter 169

  Although the angels of numbers and letters 86

  An object among dreams, you sit here with your shoes off 71

  As I went down the hill along the wall 25

  As often-times the too resplendent sun 108

  As virtuous men pass mildly away 102

  Ask me no more where Jove bestows 69

  By Heaven ’tis false, I am not vain 101

  Can someone make my simple wish come true? 47

  Come live with me and be my love 11

  Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers defy 126

  Desire urges us on deeper 115

  Down, wanton, down! Have you no shame 117

  Drink to me only with thine eyes 67

  Hello. It is like an echo 26

  How beautiful are your sandalled feet, O prince’s daughter! 88

  How do I love thee? Let me count the ways 62

  How instant joy, how clang 12

  I could take the Harlem night 63

  I do not like my state of mind 189

  I hear an army charging upon the land 107

  I look into my glass 186

  I love you 14

  I love you he said but saying it took twenty years 176

  I never knew a luh, luh-luh, a love like this 28

  I should have known if you gave me flowers 100

  I so liked Spring last year 185

  I take off my shirt, I show you 111

  I whispered, “I am too young” 60

  I will not give thee all my heart 105

  I will not let thee go 138

  I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I 22

  I, being born a woman and distressed 49

  If all the world and love were young 54

  If ever two were one, then surely we 64

  If I profane with my unworthiest hand 91

  If the moon smiled, she would resemble you 167

  If you were to hear me imitating Pavarotti 96

  Is it to me, this sad-lamenting strain? 187

  It’s a funny thing 119

  Joy of my life, full oft for loving you 95

  Last night during a thunderstorm 134

  Lay your sleeping head, my love 120

  Let us go then, you and I 154

  Love, I shall perfect for you the child 37

  My heart is like a singing bird 82

  My love is deep and penetrating. Subterranean 40

  Never pain to tell thy Love 152

  Not marble nor the gilded monuments 77

  Nothing but no and I, and I and no 19

  Nothing is plumb, level, or square 50

  Now, heaven be thanked, I am out of love again! 182

  Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white 92

  Now that you’ve gone away for five days 142

  O my luve’s like a red, red rose 68

  O mistress mine, where are you roaming? 18

  One creature, not the mollusk 171

  Our oneness is the wrestlers’, fierce and close 114

  Rise at 7:15 183

  She’s all my fancy painted him 5

  Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more 175

  Since the majority of me 166

  Since there’s no help, come, let us kiss and part 174

  Sleep softly my old love 149

  Some say the world will end in fire 164

  somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond 84

  Suppose we two were cast away 52

  Surprised by joy — impatient as the wind 35

  That time of year thou mayst in me behold 148

  The fountains mingle with the river 36

  The Governor your husband lived so long 65

  The Lingam and the Yoni 7

  The oaks, how subtle and marine 143

  The pensive gnu, the staid aardvark 4

  The praisers of women in their proud and beautiful poems 78

  The telephone 146

  There are, perhaps, whom passion gives a grace 129

  Thine eyes still shined for me, though far 34

  This coral’s shape echoes the hand 124

  This is a word we use to plug 109

  Thou art my lute, by thee I sing 83

  Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore 32

  Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des branches 122

  We sat together at one summer’s end 162

  We started speaking 140

  We stood by a pond that winter day 106

  We’re always fighting about household chores 45

  When we two parted 93

  When you are old and grey and full of sleep 104

  Where be ye going, you Devon maid? 58

  While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead 132

  Whisper of yellow globes 125

  Wild Nights—Wild Nights! 24

  Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me 137

  You are the bread and the knife 2

  You said, that October 180

  You say I love not, ’cause I do not play 153

  Your thighs are appletrees 56

  INDEX OF AUTHORS

  Alvarez, Julia 45

  Atwood, Margaret 109

  Auden, W. H. 120

  Behn, Aphra 101

  Berryman, John 65

  Bevington, Louisa S. 114

  Bible, The New English 88

  Blackburn, Paul 183

  Blake, William 152

  Bradstreet, Anne 64

  Bridges, Robert 138

  Browning
, Elizabeth Barrett 62

  Browning, Robert 169

  Burns, Robert 68

  Byron, George Gordon, Lord 93

  Carew, Thomas 69

  Carroll, Lewis 5

  Carver, Raymond 142

  Collins, Billy 2

  Common 28

  Conkling, Grace Hazard 105

  Cope, Wendy 47

  Crozier, Lorna 119

  cummings, e. e. 84

  Cunningham, J.V. 129

  Dickinson, Emily 24, 165

  Dillard, R. H. W 26

  DJ Renegade 146

  Donne, John 22, 102, 126

  Dove, Rita 100

  Drayton, Michael 19, 174

  Dugan, Alan 50

  Dunbar, Paul Laurence 83

  Dunn, Stephen 134

  Eliot, T. S. 154

  Emerson, Ralph Waldo 34

  Forché, Carolyn 111

  Frost, Robert 25, 164

  Giovanni, Nikki 14

  Graves, Robert 117

  Hardy, Thomas 106, 137, 186

  Heaney, Seamus 37

  Herrick, Robert 153

  Hope, A. D. 7

  Hughes, Langston 63

  Jarrell, Randall 71

  Jonson, Ben 67

  Joyce, James 107

  Keats, John 58

  Larkin, Philip 166

  MacLeish, Archibald 78

  Mansfield, Katherine 140

  Merwin, W. S. 149

  Mew, Charlotte 185

  Millay, Edna St. Vincent 49

  Montagu, Mary Whortly, Lady 187

  Nash, Ogden 11

  Parker, Dorothy 52, 189

  Parrish, Ritah 40

  Phillips, Robert 96

  Piercy, Marge 115

  Plath, Sylvia 167

  Pound, Ezra 132

  Raleigh, Sir Walter 54

  Roethke, Theodore 4

  Rossetti, Christina Georgina 82

  Shakespeare, William 18, 77, 91, 148, 175

  Shelley, Percy Bysshe 36

  Snyder, Gary 180

  Spenser, Edmund 95

  Struther, Jan 182

  Tennyson, Alfred, Lord 92

  Toomer, Jean 125

  Updike, John 10, 171

  Verlaine, Paul 122

  Voisine, Connie 86

  Walcott, Derek 124

  Warren, Robert Penn 12, 143

  Whitman, Walt 32

  Wilde, Oscar 108

  Williams, William Carlos 56

  Wordsworth, William 35

  Yeats, W. B. 60, 104, 162

  Young, Dean 176

  “48 Hours after You Left,” by DJ Renegade, From The Spoken Word Revolution, edited by Mark Eleveld, Sourcebooks, Inc., 2003. Reprinted by permission of Joel Dias-Porter, aka DJ Renegade.