Poem In Your Post Blog Hop: 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

                                               e.e. cummings

This poem, most famous for its concluding line, I re-found in Rosie Alison's new novel, The Very Thought of You.  In that context, it's an oblique but unequivocal declaration of love.  Here, it's just lovely enough for a summer day.  I hope you enjoy it.

Please share a favorite poem with us - either on your own site, linked below and then linked back here or in the comments below - as another gift of summer.


As always, please support the artists who change us with their art, and the groups that support those artists as well - in this case, the source of this poem, The Academy of American Poets website poets.org, where you can also print a lovely card featuring an illuminated version of the final stanza above.

MFB,
L