DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER LOVE?,
or: a few of my favourite poems concerning unreciprocated feelings, short-lived flames, messy partings, & loveless lovers. in no particular order:
âlady of miraclesâ, nina cassian (since you walked out on me / iâm getting lovelier by the hour. / i glow like a corpse in the dark.)
âlessons in hungerâ, anne sexton (blackness lunged in my heart, / and something that had been good, / a sort of kindly oxygen, / turned into a gas oven.)
âtime does not bring relief; you all have liedâ, edna st. vincent millay (and entering with relief some quiet place / where never fell his foot or shone his face / i say, âthere is no memory of him here!â / and so stand stricken, so remembering him.)
âpoemâ, lucy ives (that person does not know where i am, does not think of me. / does not know i have exhausted every argument against him. / that person does not know i no longer love freedom.)
âthe more loving oneâ, w. h. auden (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.)
âdonal ogâ, isabella augusta, lady gregory (you have taken the east from me; you have taken the west from me; / you have taken what is before me and what is behind me)
âmad girlâs love songâ, sylvia plath (i fancied youâd return the way you said, / but i grow old and i forget your name.)
âletter to the past after long silenceâ, sarah murphy (love, it is a little lonely without you. / i sit on the porch swing and whistle, / but stillness still stings. love, i loved / your stories. above all other things.)
âone last poem for richardâ, sandra cisneros (richard, itâs christmas eve again / and old ghosts come back home. / iâm sitting by the christmas tree / wondering where did we go wrong.)
âi know i have been happiestâ, dorothy parker (i will not make you songs of hearts denied, / and you, being man, would have no tears of me, / and should i offer you fidelity, / youâd be, i think, a little terrified.)
âpad, padâ, stevie smith (what i cannot remember is how i felt when you were unkind / all I know is, if you were unkind now i should not mind.)
âiâm glad your sicknessâ, marina tsvetaeva (thank you for the nights iâve spent in quiet. / thank you for the walks under the moon / youâve spared me and those sunset meetings unshared.)
âyesterday he still looked in my eyesâ, marina tsvetaeva (i know everything, donât argue with me! / i can see now, iâm a lover no longer. / and now i know wherever love holds power / death approaches soon like a gardener.)
âyou thought i was that typeâ, anna akhmatova (and i swear to you by the garden of the angels, / i swear by the miracle-working icon, / and by the fire and smoke of our nights: / i will never come back to you.)
âbruise ghazalâ, sharon olds (sleep and dreamâbut not of his return. / since it cannot harm him, wound him, in your dream.)
âlitany in which certain things are crossed outâ, richard siken (hello darling, sorry about that. / sorry about the bony elbows, sorry we / lived here, sorry about the scene at the bottom of the stairwell / and how i ruined everything by saying it out loud.)
âno, i wasnât meant to love and be lovedâ, mirza asadullah khan ghalib (knowing you are faithless keeps me alive and hungry. / knowing you faithful would kill me with joy.)
âletter to ____â, mary oliver (just as well. time / to read books, rake the lawn / in peace, sweep the floor, scour / the faces of pans, / anything.)
âiâll open the windowâ, anna swir (tonight I am going to sleep alone / on the bedclothes of purity. / aloneness / is the first hygienic measure.)
âlove after loveâ, derek walcott (give back your heart / to itself, to the stranger who has loved you / all your life, whom you ignored / for another, who knows you by heart.)
âpostcardsâ, wendy cope (i donât know / if weâll meet again. be happy. / if you hear this, send a postcard.)
prguitarman
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