Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DISPARITY IN DESPAIR by LESLIE POLES HARTLEY

First Line: IF THE DESPAIR THAT YOU AND I HAVE KNOWN
Last Line: ITS STORY, ALL SAVE THIS: WHO FOUND IT THERE.

IF the despair that you and I have known
Were accurately apportioned, each to each,
Not every pebble on a shingly beach
Not every grain of wheat for harvest sown
Mustered and piled, would bear comparison
With your despair; for your despair would reach
The stars: the volume of your griefs would teach
Astronomers a new dimension.

But mine, I think, would be a small despair
That I could carry with me, portable;
A caked cold cinder from the fires of hell
A souvenir, a trophy. I would wear
It carelessly, and sometimes I would tell
Its story, all save this: who found it there.



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