Tag Archives: Richard Wilbur

On today’s theme, about spending time

church, love, poetry

In honor of the day, a favorite love poem by Richard Wilbur. All our loves flow from the Holy Trinity — Happy Valentine’s Day! 

 

A Late Aubade

You could be sitting now in a carrel
Turning some liver-spotted page,
Or rising in an elevator-cage
Toward Ladies’ Apparel.
You could be planting a raucous bed
Of salvia, in rubber gloves,
Or lunching through a screed of someone’s loves
With pitying head,
Or making some unhappy setter
Heel, or listening to bleak
Lecture on Schoenberg’s serial technique.
Isn’t this better?
Think of all the time you are not
Wasting, and would not care to waste,
Such things, thank God, not being to your taste.
Think what a lot
Of time, by woman’s reckoning,
You’ve saved, and so may spend on this,
You who had rather lie in bed and kiss
Than anything.
It’s almost noon, you say? If so,
Time flies, and I need not rehearse
The rosebuds-theme of centuries of verse.
If you must go,
Wait for a while, then slip downstairs
And bring us up some chilled white wine,
And some blue cheese, and crackers, and some fine
Ruddy-skinned pears.
–Richard Wilbur

Of that I must be shriven

poetry,

I love the way Richard Wilbur gets to the heart of things. 

A Reckoning

At my age, one begins
To chalk up all his sins,
Hoping to wipe the slate
Before it is too late.
Therefore I call to mind
All memories of the kind
That make me wince and sweat
And tremble with regret.
What do these prove to be?
In every one, I see
Shocked faces that, alas,
Now know me for an ass.
Fatuities that I
Have uttered, drunk or dry,
Return now in a rush
And make my old cheek blush.
But how can I repent
From mere embarrassment?
Damn-foolishness can’t well
Entitle me to Hell.
Well, I shall put the blame
On the pride that’s in my shame.
Of that I must be shriven

If I’m to be forgiven.

–Richard Wilbur

Matthew VI, 28 FF. – Richard Wilbur

poetry, , ,

November 15 was the beginning of our Orthodox Nativity fast, known also as Advent or St. Philip’s Fast. There doesn’t seem to be anything clearly on my mind to write about it, which isn’t surprising, seeing as fasting always reveals a pervasive disorderedness.

But last year I posted this poem that seemed appropriate, and here it is again, worth further consideration, I think.

A blessed Advent to all who come here!

Matthew VI, 28 FF.

Rabbi, we Gadarenes
Are not ascetics; we are fond of wealth and possessions.
Love, as you call it, we obviate by means
Of the planned release of aggressions.

We have deep faith in prosperity.
Soon, it is hoped, we will reach our full potential.
In the light of our gross product, the practice of charity
Is palpably inessential.

It is true that we go insane;
That for no good reason we are possessed by devils;
That we suffer, despite the amenities which obtain
At all but the lowest levels.

We shall not, however, resign
Our trust in the high-heaped table and the full trough.
If you cannot cure us without destroying our swine,
We had rather you shoved off.

–Richard Wilbur

Poem for the beginning of a fast

Advent, church, poetry,

(We Orthodox begin our Nativity or Advent Fast today.)

MATTHEW VI, FF

Rabbi, we Gadarenes
Are not ascetics; we are fond of wealth and possessions.
Love, as you call it, we obviate by means
Of the planned release of aggressions.

We have deep faith in prosperity.
Soon, it is hoped, we will reach our full potential.
In the light of our gross product, the practice of charity
Is palpably inessential.

It is true that we go insane;
That for no good reason we are possessed by devils;
That we suffer, despite the amenities which obtain
At all but the lowest levels.

We shall not, however, resign
Our trust in the high-heaped table and the full trough.
If you cannot cure us without destroying our swine,
We had rather you shoved off.

–Richard Wilbur