- William Butler Yeats, "Her Anxiety"Earth in beauty dressed
Awaits returning spring.
All true love must die,
Alter at the best
Into some lesser thing.
Prove that I lie.
Such body lovers have,
Such exacting breath,
That they touch or sigh.
Every touch they give,
Love is nearer death.
Prove that I lie.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Her Anxiety
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Yeats could be such a Gloomy Gus –– always daring us to try to challenge and disprove the essential truth of his Tragic View of the Human Condition. I understand him well enough and sympathize to a certain extent, –– I even love him, –– but have found –– in the lifelong attempt to preserve my own sanity –– that oftentimes a more WHIMSICAL approach to the most deadly serious considerations gives a lift to the spirit, and helps greatly in resisting –– and eventually transcending –– forces eagerly waiting always to drag us into the Slough of Despond.
_____ TOO SOON OLD & TOO LATE SMART _____
Before committing Marriage Gay People should take pause
And consider the implications of Community Property Laws.
Lust may achieve satiety
With or without propriety,
So why become a martyr
To receive the imprimatur
Of a dull Bourgeois society
Whose strictures you flee gleefully
? Intimate relationships of each and every kind
Are blithely entered into by mad persons love made blind.
The stress and strain of living close together every day
Demands incessant giving causing tempers soon to fray.
The quest to reach Equality considers not, of course,
The Agony –– and vast Expense –– that comes with a Divorce!
~ FreeThinke
An early "love Poem" from my far less sanguine youth:
I thought that I had grown too wise to let
Myself be tripped and thrown against the Spike
That tears a passage for the sharp Regret
Of ever having started just to like
You through all my hard-won toughened skin ––
To reach a tender region I had smothered
In hopes of killing all the hurt within.
To know you taught me I should not have bothered.
There never has been refuge from Reality
Or sure escape from Phantoms in the Mind,
And you, Sweet Advocate of Immorality,
Are everywhere, are all that I can find.
O, Christ, why does it always come to this:
That Life, itself, means less than one kind kiss?
~ FreeThinke - fifty-plus years ago
BACK to IRONY EXPRESSED with WRY GOOD HUMOR - THIS TIME by MAXINE KUMIN:
_____________ Purgatory _____________
And suppose the darlings get to Mantua,
suppose they cheat the crypt, what next? Begin
with him, unshaven. Though not, I grant you, a
displeasing cockerel, there's egg yolk on his chin.
His seedy robe's aflap, he's got the rheum.
Poor dear, the cooking lard has smoked her eye.
Another Montague is in the womb
although the first babe's bottom's not yet dry.
She scrolls a weekly letter to her Nurse
who dares to send a smock through Balthasar,
and once a month, his father posts a purse.
News from Verona? Always news of war.
____ Such sour years it takes to right this wrong!
____ The fifth act runs unconscionably long.
~ Maxine Kumin
CONTINUING in the SAME WRYLY HUMOROUS VEIN:
________ To a Daughter Smitten ________
Desist, my darling dimwit; do not wed
On impulse born of weather fair this June.
No one should be by sun and roses led.
Only till you’ve weathered a typhoon,
Tornado, or at least a spate of sleet,
Will your prospective mate reveal his soul.
Easy times glide by, deny, delete
Demands that demonstrate a nature whole.
Intoxicated by the scents of spring
No common sense could nonsense overwhelm.
Joy seems imminent, yet blistering
Unhappiness might well be at the helm.
None a nun would have you be, and yet
Eden is not ours to gain, my pet.
~ FreeThinke, The Sandpiper - Summer '95
Sorry that I haven't been able to respond. I'm up to my eyeballs in alligators at the moment. :(
Not to worry, FJ, only please do everything possible to avoid getting bitten, okay? At 22,000 lbs of pressure per square inch an alligator bite is no trifling matter. We would't want to lose you.
Meanwhile, here is one of Emily Dickinson's many contributions to the expression of anxiety, consternation, and sober flights of fancy concerning romantic love:
I live with Him — I see His face —
I go no more away
For Visitor — or Sundown —
Death's single privacy
The Only One — forestalling Mine—
And that — by Right that He
Presents a Claim no wedlock —
Has ever granted Me —
I live with Him — I hear His Voice —
I stand alive — Today —
To witness to the Certainty
Of Immortality —
Taught Me — by Time — the lower Way —
Conviction — Every day —
That Life like This — is endless —
Be Judgment — what it may —
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
__________ BANQUET __________
Generously spread with gracious living
The table beckons. Lace and candlelight
Mingle with fine chine. I am diving
Into the tureen, which is a sight
All white and warm while guarding snowy chowder.
Savory is a casserole of brains.
Sparkling wine has made our talk much louder ––
Louder than the voices of our pains.
Drink has numbed our virtues and our faults
While food has warmed our anxious, craving hearts.
Later, we will step into a waltz ––
Whose cycle whirls till every fear departs
Leaving us quite buoyant –– out of breath ––
Saddened that this night must suffer death.
~ FreeThinke - New York 1963
FURTHER EVIDENCE that OLD AGE is FAR MORE JOYFUL than CALLOW YOUTH:
Silently they lie like icebergs
_____ in a black and frozen sea.
Moving endlessly to nowhere
_____ on waves of turmoil
__________ they occasionally touch ––
Only to crash together in rumbling torment
_____ a parody of intimacy ––
__________ to split, shatter and destroy.
And when on rare, divine days
_____ a ray of warmth
__________ penetrates the chill damp
They melt –– grateful –– yielding –– unafraid
Only to slip back into the prison
_____ of the black and frozen sea ––
Formless –– and without identity.
~ FreeThinke - New York 1962
So you think YOU've got problems with YOUR love life. Well, get a load of THIS:
I met this girl
and she’s just great
the problem is that I am straight
you ask
how can this be?
listen and you will see
she’s got that style
she’s got that smile
she’s got the walk
she’s got the talk
she’s got that zing
there’s just one thing
she’s got a penis
she’s got that flare
knows what to wair
she’s got that face
that girl is grace
she’s got pizazz
too bad she has a penis
she’s got a penis
now nobody’s perfect
i must admit
say how many will the pieces fit
she’s got more going
than most of the dolls
whoops i forgot about her balls
but she’s so hip
this babe’s a trip
she’s dissed and gay
she’s got kashe
she’s quite a dame
ain't it a shame
a crime that’s hanus
those lips, those eyes
then big surprise
that penis
theres always some failure
always some flaw
isn’t that what they call Murphy’s law?
but male genitalia
thats where I draw the line
(besides hers is bigger than mine!)
she’s got class
she’s got that sass
she’s got that sheek
she’s got misteek
she’s cool she’s hot
she’s got a lot
except a mount of venus
it’s a tragedy
‘cause where that should be
she’s got a penis
my life’s a mess
cause under that dress
she’s got a p-e-n-i-s
YES!
~ Ray Jessel
______________ NOBILITY ______________
Keep my confidence, please, if I disclose
A hint too bold of what the decades lent
To my distinctly odd development,
Husbanding, as I do, some wondrous woes.
Yes, happiest am I when trouble grows ––
Sporting a satanic element ––
A challenge made to foment discontent.
No seeds of joy thrive neatly sown in rows.
Deviltry excels in bringing out
Exultation in a higher way ––
Rebuttal to the prickly taunts of doubt.
Splendid vision neutralizes pain,
Overcoming dread, until the day
Nobility says, “You can’t see her again.”
~ FreeThinke
You shouldn't kiss and tell FT! For shame! ;)
-ps - Thanks for the morning brighteners.
De nada, FJ.
IT'S FATHER'S DAY. SOMEONE SHOULD TAKE NOTE OF IT.
__________ A Father’s Prayer __________
Ask not, my child, what I can do for you.
Forgive what seems like stinginess today.
A lot will be required to go through
The process of discovering the right way.
Help yourself. Don't wait for me, my child.
Each one of us must learn to stand alone.
Rich rewards like Love can't be beguiled,
Seduced or bought. They must in toil be grown.
Perhaps to you I sound a bit too stern?
Remember that I've lived a longer time.
A joy cannot exist until you earn
Your way. To do it FOR you'd be a crime.
Exacting though I seem, my little one,
Respect me now, and –– later –– you'll have fun.
~ FreeThinke - The Sandpiper
Happy Father's Day, FT!
Happy Fathers DAY to your loved ones hon!! xoxox:)
Thanks Angel. You have a great one, too!
FJ,
FYI...
FT's computer has died with regard to accessing the web. He is in the process of getting a new machine and will return to the blogs when the new machine is up and running.
Thank you for the information AoW. I'm glad he's getting back up. He'll be missed. :)
FJ,
FT's techie skills are minimal. He has a dread of computers. But he now realizes that he has no way to baby along the machine he was using for the past several years.
They're relatively cheap, but still easily "infected". I hope his new computer serves him well.
FJ,
FT likes Mac computers. They're not as cheap as pc's.
A Mac mini would be cheap... if he already has a monitor/keyboard/mouse, etc.
He needs a new keyboard.
Add $49. ;)
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