Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Revisiting

I'd forgotten all about this. And the first time I read it, I really didn't appreciate it. I wasn't entirely a grown-up then, though--so I can cut myself some slack for missing it.

What texts do you revisit? What have you read, that years later comes up in the stray flotsam of your memory that you have to turn to again and reconsider from the perspective of greater age and better experience?



THE GOOD-MORROW
by John Donne

I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then ?
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly ?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den ?
'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear ;
For love all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone ;
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ;
Let us possess one world ; each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest ;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west ?
Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally ;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.


You can find more John Donne, here.

15 comments:

rich said...

As a toddler? Finnegans Wake.

Anonymous said...

This is officially a request for you to tell me more about Cayote Wild.

Mac said...

I'll do a post about Coyote Wild, soon, Bart--we go live in another two weeks.

In the meantime, the site is here:

http://www.coyotewildmag.com

uniquematerial said...

oh, dear.

More?

Mac said...

Was that a request, Unique, or an expression of plaintive dismay?

They can be so hard to distinguish, sometimes, you know...

rich said...

I dropped in at coyote, Mac. It looks good. I also emailed Lori complaining about how busy you guys are. I'm retired and I've all to do just to write a bit.

Mac said...

Wanna write a nonfic piece for Coyote, then, Rich?

*grin*

rich said...

When I write nonfic pieces, Mac, they usually wind up being published as fiction--really.

One piece of nofic I wrote wound up in a pubs annual fiction review.

Will you settle for a poem? That way I won't get anybody confused.

Caveat: you pick the subject.

rosemerry said...

My favorite piece by John Donne is "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning." This could be because I had to study it in college so I know what he's talking about. But it's still a beautiful piece.

Good Luck with Coyote Wild.

Matt said...

Unfortunately what's been happening to me a lot lately is I'll run across a book I read a long, long time ago and remember I really like it, but I won't remember the book too well. Then I'll re-read it and not like it any more. It's kind of scary.

rich said...

A bit wary, eh, Stone?

Poetry credits:

NY Times
Rosebud
Yale Anglers' Journal
Sat. Evening Post
etc.

Plus, if you don't like it, don't take it. (the nerve.)

*grin*

Mac said...

hah. You don't scare me, Rich.

Your subject: Mystery (in the theological sense) and the Weird.

rich said...

Hmmm.

OK, on your next reading.

Anonymous said...

Minutes fly when smiling, tick slow when stuck.
Is it ever what you imagined?
Is it ever good enough?
If it is, could you ever really let it go?


Keep grinning, loon... =)

Anonymous said...

In the room the women come and go, talking of Michaelangelo.