Each lover has a theory of his own About the difference between the ache Of being with his love, and being alone: Why what, when dreaming, is dear flesh and bone That really stirs the senses, when awake, Appears a simulacrum of his own. Narcissus disbelieves in the unknown; He cannot join his image in the lake So long as he assumes he is alone. The child, the waterfall, the fire, the stone, Are always up to miscief, though, and take The universe for granted as their own. The elderly, like Proust, are always prone To think of love as a subjective fake; The more they love, the more they feel alone. Whatever view we hold, it must be shown Why every lover has a wish to make Some other kind of otherness his own: Perhaps, in fact, we never are alone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE JAIN BIRD HOSPITAL IN DELHI by WILLIAM MEREDITH SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 3 by CONRAD AIKEN ON BEING ASKED TO WRITE A POEM AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM by HAYDEN CARRUTH HOPE (1) by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A PLANTATION BACCHANAL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON |