Wednesday, April 23, 2008

NPM: Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink

April is National Poetry Month. I intend to celebrate it by posting a poem every day. This one is by Edna St Vincent Millay

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power
I might be driven to sell your love for peace
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.

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1 Comments:

At 1:08 PM, April 23, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous had this to say...

One of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets. I memorized it in high school and can still recite it (not that anyone ever asks). And I still get a lump in my throat every time. Thanks for this nod to one of our underappreciated poets.

 

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