A leaf falls on loneliness
Friday, October 21, 2005
it may not always be soit 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.
-e.e. cummings
Is there anything harder than love lost? Yes. It's feeling that there's still so much there; the whole reason you loved them in the first place. That desire to not throw the baby out with the bathwater is both seductive and destructive. It makes you want to keep all of the things that made you good in the first place, makes you want to watch baseball with them while still keeping that detachment it took so long to develop. You want the best for them, but deep down you still want them to struggle as much, if not more, than you did.
Losing love isn't as hard as keeping friendship. So says me. But then, I've been known to be wrong before.
Someone else is a cummings fan.
