it may not always be so; and i say - ee cummings

[cymraeg.livejournal.com]

My first post here, and a poem I love because I don't think I could achieve its generosity:

it may not always be so; and i say

that if your lips,which i have loved, should touch

another's, and your dear strong fingers clutch

his heart, as mine in time not far away;

if on another's face your sweet hair lay

in such a silence as i know, or such

great writhing words as, uttering overmuch,

stand helplessly before the spirit at bay;

 

if this should be, i say if this should be--

you of my heart, send me a little word;

that i may go unto him, and take his hands,

saying, Accept all happiness from me.

Then shall i turn my face, and hear one bird

sing terribly afar in the lost lands.

The Black Panther, by John Hall Wheelock

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

There is a panther caged within my breast;
But what his name, there is no breast shall know
Save mine, nor what it is that drives him so,
Backward and forward, in relentless quest-
That silent rage, baffled but unsuppressed,
The soft pad of those stealthy feet that go
Over my body's prison to and fro,
Trying the walls forever without rest.
All day I feed him with my living heart;
But when the night puts forth her dreams and stars,
His wrath is hurled upon the trembling bars,
The eternal passion stretches me apart,
And I lie silent-but my body shakes.