A Renewal
Having used every subterfuge
To shake you, lies, fatigue, or even that of passion,
Now I see no way but a clean break.
I add that I am willing to bear the guilt.
You nod assent. Autumn turns windy, huge,
A clear vase of dry leaves vibrating on and on.
We sit, watching. When I next speak
Love buries itself in me, up to the hilt.
James Merrill
A very simple poem that says in eight short lines more about the complexities
of love and relationships than pages of analysis and explanations. Its like
Faizs lines in Be Near Me, the poem I had sent earlier, You who demolish
me, you whom I love/be near me. There are some relationships we are so bonded
to that even when we leave them we cant.
Vikram
PS: For what its worth, this could be counted as a specifically gay poem, since
Merrill was gay. But its such a moving poem, I would hate to see its appeal
limited by definitions of any kind.
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