Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
Encapsulates my mood. The reason I love Auden is because of his unexpectedness. Like most people I slot words. When I'm listening to a song, or a poem, I find my mind jumping to fill in the last word of the next line, only based on habits of rhyme and metre. But with Auden you never know what he's going to say next, what concept he'll introduce, which turn the sentence will take. For that, I adore the man (regardless of how querulous a man he was, which statement annoys me with its irrelevancy). The rest follows below.
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
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5 comments:
My favourite poem ever! :D
PS: Keep in mind I've only read six poems in my life though.
PPS: I'm not counting nursery rhymes as poems, of course. :P
@KG: Wow! 6 poems and you managed to land an Auden. Pretty impressive!!! Or....... could it be that an amazingly intelligent, well-read, clever, kind-hearted, beautiful soul insisted you read this one? One wonders.
Hehehe. It might just be the amazingly intelligent, well-read, clever, kind-hearted, beautiful soul.
:P
the more loving one hey ???!
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