{"id":3014,"date":"2011-06-16T07:00:33","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/?p=3014"},"modified":"2011-06-16T07:00:33","modified_gmt":"2011-06-16T14:00:33","slug":"a-great-lover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2011\/06\/16\/a-great-lover\/","title":{"rendered":"a great lover…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pale<\/a><\/p>\n

A friend shared the poem below on my Facebook page recently, and it literally left me breathless as I read (note: I’ve made a few changes here to make it a bit more female-positive).<\/p>\n

A few days ago I was having a thoughtful chat with another friend and it struck me how hard my life has often been–in that I’ve had to bend and alter my path because of situations beyond my control.\u00a0 So many of my wishes and desires are unfulfilled.\u00a0 There are so many ‘what ifs’ to my life that I simply can’t pursue because of circumstance.\u00a0 But despite this, I feel as though I’ve surrendered myself to these restrictions and found even more freedom through doing so.\u00a0 In large part, I think my ability to surface from a morass is because I simply love life so much, and I find huge pleasure in the smallest of things.\u00a0 Perhaps that’s the result of having survived so much already, or perhaps it’s simply my nature.\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00a0 But it makes me feel buoyant and strong.<\/p>\n

The Great Lover<\/strong>
\nby Rupert Brooke<\/a><\/p>\n

I have been so great a lover: filled my days
\nSo proudly with the splendour of Love’s praise,
\nThe pain, the calm, and the astonishment,
\nDesire illimitable, and still content,
\nAnd all dear names [wo]men use, to cheat despair,<\/p>\n

For the perplexed and viewless streams that bear
\nOur hearts at random down the dark of life.
\nNow, ere the unthinking silence on that strife
\nSteals down, I would cheat drowsy Death so far,
\nMy night shall be remembered for a star<\/p>\n

That outshone all the suns of all [wo]men’s days.
\nShall I not crown them with immortal praise
\nWhom I have loved, who have given me, dared with me
\nHigh secrets, and in darkness knelt to see<\/p>\n

The inenarrable god[dess]head of delight?<\/p>\n

Love is a flame;\u2014we have beaconed the world’s night.
\nA city:\u2014and we have built it, these and I.<\/p>\n

An emp[ress]:\u2014we have taught the world to die.
\nSo, for their sakes I loved, ere I go hence,
\nAnd the high cause of Love’s magnificence,
\nAnd to keep loyalties young, I’ll write those names
\nGolden for ever, eagles, crying flames,
\nAnd set them as a banner, that [wo]men may know,
\nTo dare the generations, burn, and blow
\nOut on the wind of Time, shining and streaming….
\nThese I have loved:
\nWhite plates and cups, clean-gleaming,
\nRinged with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust;
\nWet roofs, beneath the lamp-light; the strong crust
\nOf friendly bread; and many-tasting food;
\nRainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood;
\nAnd radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers;
\nAnd flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours,
\nDreaming of moths that drink them under the moon;
\nThen, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon
\nSmooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss
\nOf blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is
\nShining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen<\/p>\n

Unpassioned beauty of a great machine;<\/p>\n

The benison of hot water; furs to touch;
\nThe good smell of old clothes; and other such\u2014
\nThe comfortable smell of friendly fingers,
\nHair’s fragrance, and the musty reek that lingers
\nAbout dead leaves and last year’s ferns….
\nDear names,
\nAnd thousand others throng to me! Royal flames;
\nSweet water’s dimpling laugh from tap or spring;
\nHoles in the ground; and voices that do sing:
\nVoices in laughter, too; and body’s pain,
\nSoon turned to peace; and the deep-panting train;
\nFirm sands; the little dulling edge of foam
\nThat browns and dwindles as the wave goes home;<\/p>\n

And washen stones, gay for an hour; the cold<\/p>\n

Graveness of iron; moist black earthen mould;
\nSleep; and high places; footprints in the dew;
\nAnd oaks; and brown horse-chestnuts, glossy-new;
\nAnd new-peeled sticks; and shining pools on grass;\u2014
\nAll these have been my loves. And these shall pass.
\nWhatever passes not, in the great hour,
\nNor all my passion, all my prayers, have power
\nTo hold them with me through the gate of Death.
\nThey’ll play deserter, turn with the traitor breath,
\nBreak the high bond we made, and sell Love’s trust<\/p>\n

And sacramented covenant to the dust.
\n\u2014Oh, never a doubt but, somewhere, I shall wake,
\nAnd give what’s left of love again, and make<\/p>\n

New friends, now strangers….
\nBut the best I’ve known,<\/p>\n

Stays here, and changes, breaks, grows old, is blown
\nAbout the winds of the world, and fades from brains
\nOf living [wo]men, and dies.
\nNothing remains.<\/p>\n

O dear my loves, O faithless, once again
\nThis one last gift I give: that after [wo]men
\nShall know, and later lovers, far-removed
\nPraise you, “All these were lovely”; say, “[S]he loved.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend shared the poem below on my Facebook page recently, and it literally left me breathless as I read (note: I’ve made a few changes here to make it a bit more female-positive). A few days ago I was having a thoughtful chat with another friend and it struck me how hard my life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,52,53,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deep-thoughts","category-love","category-poetry","category-songspoetry"],"yoast_head":"\na great lover... - PilgrimSteps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2011\/06\/16\/a-great-lover\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"a great lover... - PilgrimSteps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A friend shared the poem below on my Facebook page recently, and it literally left me breathless as I read (note: I’ve made a few changes here to make it a bit more female-positive). 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