How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
And I like him too because he said this:
In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.
With Isherwood, in 1938, on their way to China. I rather covet both their overcoats.
Also, I think: Auden in China? I had no idea. That's another thing I shall have to look up on the Google, when I should be working.
Thank you! That might be my favorite Auden line.
ReplyDeleteTogether with: 'Dear, I know nothing of either/ But when I try to imagine a love everlasting or the life hereafter/what I hear is the murmur of underground streams/what I see is a limestone landscape.'
Plus: 'and dearer, water, than ever your voice, as if/ glad - though goodness knows why - to run with the human race, wishing, I thought, the least of men their/figures of splendor, their holy places'.
I still don't understand people who think Auden is difficult and cold - what better summary of a relationship that's going nowhere could there be than: 'Put the car away; when life fails/ What's the good of going to Wales?
Dellamirandola - how absolutely lovely to find another Auden fan. And thank you for the further lines. I know his work pretty well, but I never saw the one about life fails and going to Wales. I LOVE it. :)
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