LOVE IS . . .
By Marina Rybak
I love the heart-opening sensation, reading a simple rhyme. This week is infused with Love and is extra potent. So here are some of my favorite simple love rhymes.
One Perfect Rose
A single flow’r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet –
One perfect rose.
I knew the language of the floweret;
fragile leaves,’ it said, ‘his heart enclose.’
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.
Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.
Dorothy Parker
Green
The dawn was apple green,
The sky was green wine held in the sun,
The moon was a golden petal between.
She opened her eyes, and green
They shone, clear like flowers undone
For the first time, now the first time seen.
D.H. Lawrence
In Former Days
In former days we’d both agree
That you were me, and I was you.
What has now happened to us two,
That you are you and I am me?
Bhartrhari (trans. by John Brough)
She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep
She tells her love while half asleep
In the dark hours,
With half words whispered low:
As earth stirs in her winter sleep
And puts out grass and flowers
Despite the snow,
Despite the falling snow.
Robert Graves
