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cosmolinguistMy mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
I like this sonnet a lot. I've never been a "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" kind of girl. (Of course, it's never been an issue, as people are not lining up to write poems about me. But I've thought about this, off and on, since I first read this poem in junior high.) I'd rather hear that I am cherished despite obviously not having cheeks like roses or a voice better than music. I'd rather thought be a girl than a goddess, because that's what I am. I tread upon the ground, as my soggy blue Pumas prove. And that is not perfect, but it is beautiful.
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
I like this sonnet a lot. I've never been a "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" kind of girl. (Of course, it's never been an issue, as people are not lining up to write poems about me. But I've thought about this, off and on, since I first read this poem in junior high.) I'd rather hear that I am cherished despite obviously not having cheeks like roses or a voice better than music. I'd rather thought be a girl than a goddess, because that's what I am. I tread upon the ground, as my soggy blue Pumas prove. And that is not perfect, but it is beautiful.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-20 05:17 pm (UTC)a mass of hot air teeming with flies and the stench of sweat?
Would you really want me to?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-20 05:24 pm (UTC)Love Poem ~ John Frederick Nims
My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases,
At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring,
Whose palms are bulls in china, burs in linen,
And have no cunning with any soft thing,
Except all ill-at-ease fidgeting people:
The refugee uncertain at the door,
You make at home: deftly you steady
The drunk clambering on his undulant floor.
Unpredictable dear, the taxi driver's terror,
Shrinking from far headlights pale as a dime
Yet leaping before red apoplectic streetcars--
Misfit in any space. And never on time.
A wrench in clocks and the solar system. Only
With words and people and love you move at ease,
In traffic of wit expertly manoeuver
And keep us, all devotion, at your knees.
Forgetting your coffee staining our flannel,
Your lipstick spreading on our coat,
So gayly in love's unbreakable heaven
Our souls on glory of spilt bourbon float.
Be with me darling, early and late. Smash glasses--
I will study wry music for your sake.
For should your hands drop white and empty
All the toys of the world would break.
Helga
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 05:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-20 06:49 pm (UTC)*points at own favorite poets (http://www.livejournal.com/users/bridgetester/4941.html) post*
Being up on a pedestal is nice for half a second, then you get vertigo. ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-20 07:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 05:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 01:25 am (UTC)Or another 'coincidence' like the playlist the other day? ;)
I once tried setting that one to music, actually, but 14 lines is a bastard of a length to set when you're used to writing eight-bar measures...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 05:41 am (UTC)I'm forced to conclude that since I talk to you so much and we like the same things, such coincidences are bound to happen.
Anyway, if you like this poem so much, why do you still tell me I'm perfect and you adore me? :-D
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 06:03 am (UTC)I definitely only mentioned it on Monday night, as the exception for my usual distaste for Shakespeare...
And you're just *begging* for Jenn to make fun of you with that last sentence...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 06:15 am (UTC)Sshhh, maybe she won't notice! (She'll think you're my boyfriend whether there's any truth to the idea or not, so I can't see how it matters. :-)) Anyway, it was a good question, I thought.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 07:19 am (UTC)There's no need to give extra ammunition to her though is there? ;)
See email for long, detailed reply...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 03:12 am (UTC)*Hands you four ones, a quarter, two nickles, and some pocket lent, then walks away very confused*
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 04:03 am (UTC)=sigh=
=throws it in the jar of useless US currency=
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 10:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 12:31 pm (UTC)digs out...
Date: 2004-11-24 11:28 am (UTC)That's all the money I have on me.....
(thankful he didn't ask for platic....)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-24 09:23 pm (UTC)Way to give me a flashback
Date: 2004-04-21 09:03 am (UTC)I love the sonnet for the same reason you do, but some people -- both Chinese and American -- just don't get it.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 09:29 am (UTC)Cool thought to send me off to class with
Date: 2004-04-21 09:31 am (UTC)::grins::
Re: Cool thought to send me off to class with
Date: 2004-04-21 10:25 am (UTC)Re: Cool thought to send me off to class with
Date: 2004-04-21 10:35 am (UTC):-p
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 10:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 11:21 am (UTC)Those who would rather have a goddess than a girl are fools. The goddess sits on a pedestal, just out of reach. She stays far enough away that you'll never be able to reach her, yet just close enough to make you think you might if you tried harder. The fools can keep aching after their goddesses all they like.
I want a girl, not a goddess. A companion, not an object of desire. Tell me I'm settling for less than I deserve, and I'll tell you you're blind. For a girl is nothing less than a goddess that resides on the ground.
And truth be told, I believe most goddesses would rather be girls. It's awfully cold and lonely at the top of a pedestal.
See, I always knew you were cool... :-)
Date: 2004-04-21 11:25 am (UTC)Re: See, I always knew you were cool... :-)
Date: 2004-04-21 02:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 01:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 02:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 05:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-25 07:46 am (UTC)Eloquently well-put.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-21 09:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 03:06 am (UTC)Oh, and those pumas wouldn't be so blue and soggy if you'd stop soaking them with one of those toilet cake thingies. ;p
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 08:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 12:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 01:02 pm (UTC)Besides, if you can put up with
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 01:17 pm (UTC)Hmmm, noted. Thanx for the warning. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 05:59 am (UTC)