Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE BLAME by JAMES OPPENHEIM

First Line: YOU BLAME YOURSELF
Last Line: IS IT THE SUN'S FAULT THAT WE CANNOT BEAR HIS RAYS?
Subject(s): HUMAN BEHAVIOR; CONDUCT OF LIFE; HUMAN NATURE;

YOU blame yourself:
You writhe with remorse because you make trouble for your dear ones:
And the love you give them seems but the mother of tears and sighs.

But are you to blame?
Or is it the human predicament?
You are unhappy yourself: who caused it?
Do you not know it is hard for people to live together?

The sun in summer by merely swimming through the skies
Sends down a scorching heat:
Shall the sun therefore go weeping through the heavens,
Remorseful and miserable?
Is it the sun's fault that we cannot bear his rays?



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