My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases,
At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring,
Whose palms are bulls in china, burrs in linen,
And have no cunning with any soft thing

Except all ill-at-ease fidgeting people:
The refugee uncertain at the door
You make at home; deftly you steady
The drunk clambering on his undulant floor.

Unpredictable dear, the taxi drivers' terror.
Shrinking from far headlights pale as a dime
Yet leaping before red apoplectic streetcars -
Misfit in any space. And never on time

A wrench in clocks and the solar system. Only
with words and people and love you move at ease;
In traffic of wit expertly manoeuvre
And keep us, all devotion, at your knees.

Forgetting your coffee spreading on our flannel,
your lipstick grinning on our coat.
So gaily in love's unbreakable heaven
Our souls on glory of split bourbon float

Be with me, darling, early and late. Smash glasses -
I will study wry music for your sake.
For should your hands drop white and empty
All the toys of the world would break.

~ Love Poem; John Frederick Nims (1913 - 1999)

This was taken from a compilation of poems that Miss Lee had given us previously. Although a generally non-romantic soul, I felt that this poem was very real and certainly very sweet, almost too much for my delicate nerves. It is also quite amusing, to see how the poet describes his wife's failings; written in a light hearted manner, it is obvious that they share a close and intimate relationship from the way the poet teases his wife. Whereas, I can imagine the wife mock glaring at him and even hitting him lightly for painting her in such an ungraceful light. I must say that I am pretty envious of the closeness that they have, the easiness that develops after a long time.

It is also evident that the poet loves his wife dearly, aside from his pet names for her, 'darling' and 'dear', we can also see the depth of his feelings, grandly stating that 'should [her] hands drop white and empty, all the toys of the world would break'. To him, her death would devastate him and happiness would vanished, as represented by the 'toys'.

The poem also shows how much the poet knows and understand his wife. Although with various amusing hyperboles, we get to see that his wife is clumsy, without any 'cunning with any soft thing', but although she may not be good at housework, perhaps, due to her clumsiness, we can see that she is a warm and hospitable person and can make all 'ill-at-ease fidgeting people' calm. This shows that the poet knows his wife's flaws as well as her strengths. He does not get angry over his wife's clumsiness, instead he seems mildly exasperated and perhaps amused by her ways.

And because I'm such a lazy person, I shall stop here. Ta!

Labels: music/poem, writing