- Such love I cannot analyse;
- It does not rest in lips or eyes,
- Neither in kisses nor caress.
- Partly I know it's gentleness
- And understanding in one word
- Or in brief letters. It's preserved
- By trust and by respect and awe.
- These are the words I'm searching for.
- Two people, yes, two lasting friends.
- The giving comes, the taking ends.
- There is no measure for such things.
- For this all Nature slows and sings.
I love the sense of awe in this, the idea that everything in nature is impressed by the simple qualities of a strong friendship. I also like the characteristic EJ way of appearing to grasp for exactly what her ideas are and their best expression (these are the words I'm searching for). Part of her charm to me is that she is always so precise and clear in her poetry, but here she gives me a glimpse of the drafting process that she laboured over in her work.
I guess it's obvious that I post this poem to honour all the lovely friendships that enhance my life. There is no measure for such things.
This next one is less straightforward. In studying this with students it has often proved tricky to tease out the levels of observation on relationships that she compresses into this wonderful piece.
Beyond Possession
Our images withdraw, the rose returns
To what it was before we looked at it.
We lift our looks from where the water runs
And its pure river once again, we write
No emblems in the trees. A way begins
Of living where we have no need to beat
The petals down to get the scent of rose
Or sign our features where the water goes.
All is itself. Each man himself entire,
Not even plucking out his thought, not even
Bringing a tutored wilfulness to bear
Upon the rose, the water. Each has given
Essense of water back to itself, essence of flower,
Till he is yoked to his own heart and driven
Inward to find a private kind of peace
And not a mind reflecting his own face.
Yet must go deeper still, must move to love
Where thought is free to let the water ride,
Is liberal to therose giving it life
And setting even its own shadow aside;
Till flower and water blend with freedom of
Passion that does not close them in and hide
Their deepest natures; but the heart is strong
To beat with rose and river in one song.
I find this poem an inspiration for how to be in love with someone, someone as beautiful (and yet ephemeral) as a flowing river or a rose. As the title suggest we should aim not to be possessive, not to impose our selves on our lover, to have enough self-confidence to be what WE are without seeking validation and reflection from another.
Living like this we don't need to try to dominte the beauty: "no need to beat the petals down to get the scent of rose .." Here, Jennings suggests that such efforts to control, even in a bid to get the best (essence) out of something, is ultimately destructive with the verbs "plucking" and "beat". Even the less aggressive "sign our features" is dismissed. We should make no effort to impose ourselves on the nature of others.
Then we can be ourselves. We can find our own internal peace and then move beyond that to the satisfaction of sharing freedoms that culminate in a marvellous vision of passion. Both parties are able to show their deepest natures and beat together "in one song".
*sigh*
