e.e. cummings

e.e. cummings selections from his complete collection:

pg. 145

it is at moments after i have dreamed

of the rare entertainment of your eyes,

when( being fool to fancy)i have deemed

with your peculiar mouth my heart made wise;

at moments when the glassy darkness holds

the genuine apparition of your smile

(it was through tears always) and silence moulds

such strangeness as was mine a little while;

moments when my once more illustrious arms

are filled with fascination, when my breast

wears the intolerant brightness of your charms:

one pierced moment whiter than the rest

-turning from the tremendous lie of sleep

i watch the roses of the day grow deep.

------pg 146

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.

----pg 169

i have found what you are like

the rain,

   (Who feathers frightened fields

with the superior dust-of-sleep.  wields

easily the pale club of the wind

and swirled justly souls of flower strike

the air in utterable coolness

deeds of green thrilling light

                                         with thinned

newfragile yellows

           lurch and.press

 -in the woods

           which

                stutter

                      and

                        sing

And the coolness of your smile is

stirringofbirds between my arms;but

i should rather than anything

have(almost when hugeness will shut

quietly)almost,

                   your kiss

-------pg 283

sunlight was over

our mouths fears hearts lungs arms hopes feet hands

under us the unspeaking Mediterranean bluer

than we had imagined

a few cries drifting through

high air

a sail a fishing boat somebody an invisible spectator,

maybe certain nobodies laughing faintly

playing moving far below us

perhaps one villa caught like pieces

of a kite in the trees,here

and here reflecting

sunlight

(everywhere sunlight keen complete

silent

and everywhere you your kisses your flesh mind breathing

beside under around myself)

               by and by

a fat colour reared itself against the sky and the sea

...finally your eyes knew

me,we smiled to each other,releasing lay,watching

(sprawling,in

grass upon a

cliff)what had been something

else carefully slowly fatally turning into ourselves...

while in the very middle of fire all

the world becoming bright and a little melted.

----pg 298

it is so long since my heart has been with yours

shut by our mingling arms through

a darkness where new lights begin and

increase,

since your mind has walked into

my kiss as a stranger

into the streets and colours of a town-

that i have perhaps forgotten

how,always(from

these hurrying crudities

of blood and flesh)Love

coins HIs most gradual gesture,

and whittles life to eternity

-after which our separating selves become museums

filled with skilfully stuffed memories

-----pg 358

come a little further-why be afraid-

here's the earliest star(have you a wish?)

touch me,

before we perish

(believe that not anything which has ever been

invented can spoil this or this instant)

kiss me a little:

the air

darkens and is alive-

o live with me in the fewness of

these colours;

alone who slightly

always are beyond the reach of death

and the English

----pg 424

here's to opening and upward,to leaf and to sap

and to  your(in my arms flowering so new)

self whose eyes smell of the sound of rain

and here's to silent certainly mountains;and to

a disappearing poet of always,snow

and to morning;and to morning's beautiful friend

twilight(and a first dream called ocean)and

let must of if be damned with whomever's afraid

down with ought with because with every brain

which thinks,nor dares to feel(but up

with joy;and up with laughing and drunkenness)

here's to one undiscoverable guess

of whose mad skill each world of blood is made

(whose fatal songs are moving in the moon

----pg 481

may my heart always be open to little

birds who are the secrets of living

whatever they sing is better than to know

and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry

and fearless and thirsty and supple

and even if it's sunday may i be wrong

for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully

and love yourself so more than truly

there's never been quite such a fool who could fail

pulling all the sky over him with one smile

---pg 529

up into the silence the green

silence with a white earth in it

you will(kiss me)go

out into the morning the young

morning with a warm world in it

(kiss me)you will go

on into the sunlight the fine

sunlight with a firm day in it

you will go(kiss me

down into your memory and

a memory and memory

i)kiss me(will go)

------pg 535

(sitting in a tree-)

o small you

sitting in a tree-

sitting in a treetop

riding on a greenest

riding on a greener

(o little i)

riding on a leaf

o least who

sing small thing

dance little joy

(shine most prayer)

----pg 617

out of the mountain his soul comes

a keen pure silence)such hands can

build a(who are like ocean patient)dream's

eternity(you feel behind this man

earth's first sunrise)and his voice

is green like growing(is miraculous like

tomorrow)all around the self of this

being are growing stones(neither awake

are goddesses nor sleeping)since he's young

with mysteries(each truly his more than

some eighty years through which that memory strolls)

and every ours for the mere worshipping

(as calmly as if aristide maillols

occurred with any ticking of a clock

---pg 688

in time of daffodils(who know

the goal of living is to grow)

forgetting why, remember how

in time of lilacs who proclaim

the aim of waking is to dream,

remember so(forgetting seem)

in time of roses(who amaze

our now and here with paradise)

forgetting if,remember yes

in time of all sweet things beyond

whatever mind may comprehend,

remember seek(forgetting find)

and in a mystery to be

(when time from time shall set us free)

forgetting me,remember me

----712

silence

.is

a

looking

bird:the

turn

ing;edge,of

life

(inquiry before snow

----pg 723

f

 eeble a blu

r of cr

umbli

ng m

oo

  n(

poor shadoweaten

was

of is and un of

so

  )h

   ang

  s

  from

thea lmo st mor ning

-------pg 728

home means that

when the certainly

roof leaks it

's our(home

means if any moon

or possibly

sun shines they are

our also my

darling)but should some im

probably

unworld crash

to 1

nonillion(& so)nothings

each(let's

kiss)means

home

-----pg 729

old age sticks

up Keep

Off

signs)&

youth yanks them

down(old

age

cries No

Tres)&(pas)

youth laughs

(sing

old age

scolds Forbid

den Stop

Must

n't Don't

&)youth goes

right on

gr

owing old

----pg 754

now comes the good rain farmers pray for(and

no sharp shrill shower bouncing up off

burned earth but a blind blissfully seething

gift wandering deeply through godthanking ground)

bluest whos of this snowy head we call

old frank go bluer still as(shifting his life

from which to which)he reaches the barn's immense

doorway and halts propped on a pitchfork(breathing)

lovers like rej and lena smile(wile loomin

darkly a kindness of fragrance opens around

them)and whisper their joy under the coming

quitenotimaginable silenceofsound

(here is that rain awaited by leaves with all

their trees and by forests with all their mountains)

-----pg 758

until No least

leaf almost stirs

as never(in

againless depths

of silence)and

forever touch

or until she

and he become

(on tiptoe at

the very quick

of nowhere)we

-while one thrush sings

------pg 809

now that,more nearest even than your fate

and mine(or any truth beyond perceive)

quivers this miracle of summer night

her trillion secrets touchably alive

-while and all mysteries which i or you

(blinded by merely things believable)

could only fancy we should never know

are unimaginably ours to feel-

how should some world(we marvel)doubt,for just

sweet terrifying the particular

moment it takes one very falling most

(there:did you see it?)star to disappear,

that hugest whole creation may be less

incalculable than a single kiss