i carry your heart with me

One of my favorite all-time poets is ee cummings. It's almost ironic that I would love him so much, as he used no capitalization and barely any punctuation in his writing, whereas I am the (self-proclaimed) Queen-Bee of Grammar. But love him I do, and I wanted to share three of my favorite poems of his with you. Personally, I feel they are some of the most romantic poems ever written. Bar none.

[And Scriptor, if you're reading this, where does the expression "bar none" come from???]

"i carry your heart with me(i carry it in"

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

~

"somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond" *

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain, has such small hands

~

"it may not always be so;and i say"

it may not always be so;and i say
that if your lips,which i have loved,should touch
another's,and your dear strong fingers clutch
his heart,as mine in time not far away;
if on another's face your sweet hair lay
in such a silence as i know,or such
great writhing words as,uttering overmuch,
stand helplessly before the spirit at bay;

if this should be,i say if this should be-
you of my heart,send me a little word;
that i may go unto him,and take his hands,
saying,Accept all happiness from me.
Then shall i turn my face,and hear one bird
sing terribly afar in the lost lands.

*A note about the second poem - it appeared as part of the wedding vows in an episode of the original Beverly Hills 90210. (I think) it was when Kelly and Brandon were getting married. (Or was it Dylan?!) Reader, I just about cried, and not from happiness, when I saw this. Because that was always my most favorite wish -- to have my future groom recite it as part of our wedding vows, and then friggin' 90210 had to go and ruin it for me. Woe.

11 comment(s):

Hannahkin said...

FIIIIRST! I think. I can never tell on your blog, Ana, because of the comment moderation :) Oh well, in my mind I'm first anyway!

ee cummings is something of a hero to me. Okay, I lie, he IS a hero to me. And I am ashamed to say that I have never read "i carry your heart with me(i carry it in" before. But after reading it, I want THAT ONE at my wedding! *sigh* The man was a genius :)

Busy Bee Lauren said...

Ana, I had to tell you. I just finished Atonement and I need someone to discuss it with!

OrangeOreos said...

Aw... Stupid 90210. Ruining English teachers' dreams... :P

And I've never really read cummings... I'm not much of a poetry person, but I really did enjoy those three! I'll have to scrounge up a book of his somewhere and check it out.

Indyeah said...

you love e e cummings:)
me too :) lol@90210 :D
thatpoem is simply beautiful!:)

and here's one thats beautiful too ,though I am pretty sure you would already know this Grammar Queen:D

if i love You
(thickness means
worlds inhabited by roamingly
stern bright faeries

if you love
me) distance is mind carefully
luminous with innumerable gnomes
Of complete dream

if we love each (shyly)
other, what clouds do or Silently
Flowers resembles beauty
less than our breathing



Love
Indyeah:)
PS:-how are you feeling now?Hows your health?take care:)

Unknown said...

@Indyeah: I had forgotten that poem! Oh, I love it... Thanks so much for sharing with me. And I am feeling better, thanks for asking. :-)

Nancy Face said...

Those are so very lovely. :)

Ann Marie said...

Great stuff.. I think I may remember that about 90210 after you said it..

I know this is lame, but the movie The Notebook ( my fav ) got me liking poetry. He reads tennison and Witman(sp?) and I love it!

If you are a grammer and punctuation queen, please forgive me and my blog...ha-ha

Have a great Weekend!

My Castle in Spain said...

Hi Ana,
so glad to visit you tonight ! I adore e.e. cummings and especially this second poem you're quoting.

i've just read your story of how you and your beloved fell in love and honestly i find it so moving and beautifully put into words. (falling in love, being in love is one of my passions, well actually my Spanish boyfriend is now my passion - i wanted to ask you, if one day, i'll write a post about it, would you give me permission use some of your words, making reference to you and with a link to your blog of course)

Have a great week end Ana and thank you for your sweet comments
:-)

ps: hope your cold is gone and that your grandmother is better too

and by the way...
what's wrong with being flighty ?
me too i am !

Unknown said...

@ Castle: Go ahead and use my story! I'd be honored. Love is definitely one of my passions, one of the main things I like to write about, so it's nice to meet someone else who loves love, too. :-)

TLC said...

I love how Nancy said those are so very lovely because they simply are. EE Cummings is a favorite of mine. You Carry my Heart is truly stunning to take in.

There's just something so crisp about poetry that everyone should appreciate and know.

As for me, I have read lots of romantic poetry And for some reason Poe's Annable Lee is my very favorite. My Aunt--the one whose been sick--would recite it to me as a little girl and so i have it memorized. It gives me chills.


Have you ever read any poetry by Jackie Kennedy Onasis {sp ??}
She has this one that she did about thoughts thats just lovely.

{For give me on my grammer, i type way to fast to care LOL}

Also, thank you for your sweet comment, all is better but i'll recap on Sunday.
Thanks Again.

luvs :: Tierra ::

Unknown said...

Tierra, I have to check out Jackie O's poetry. I had no idea! And I'm glad all is better. :)