Days I enjoy
Days I enjoy are days when nothing happens,
When I have no engagements written on my block,
When no one comes to disturb my inward peace,
When no one comes to take me away from myself
And turn me into a patchwork, a jig-saw puzzle.
A broken mirror that once gave a whole reflection,
Being so contrived that it takes too long a time
To get myself back to myself when they have gone.
The years are to strictly measured, and life too short
For me to afford such bits of myself to my friends.
And what have I to give to my friends in the last resort?
An awkwardness, a shyness, and a scrap,
No thing that's truly me, a bootless waste,
A waste of myself and of them, for my life is mine
And theirs presumably theirs, and cannot touch.
Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962)
Monday, November 02, 2009
No personal note
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Wondrous are the path of thinking. It's all CherryPie' fault. :)
ReplyDeleteMentioning she had been visiting Knole let me when reading it, immediately think of Vita Sackville West and this very poem.
Poor, poor Vita!
ReplyDeleteWith others, she was a jig-saw puzzle (as she described). And (with her husband) a great gardener. Her illustrated "Garden Book" is magnificent. I wish I could visit the place.
But it's not better than the Seanhenge I see on Omnium. :)
ReplyDeleteClaudia,
ReplyDeleteSeanhenge offers at least one advantage: It does need far less time to explore than does Knole Park.
This poem resonates with me for some days it could describe me exactly.
ReplyDeleteBut on others I am out and about and touching the lives of others as they touch and enrich mine. What a mixture we are as most of us are neither totally introverts or extroverts.
Dear jmb,
ReplyDeletewhat shall I say? You put this so beautifully. Thank you!