Tuesday, August 18, 2009

letters: Keats to Brawne, 1819

excerpt:

I have two luxuries to brood over in my walks, your Loveliness and the hour of my death. O that I could have possession of them both in the same minute. I hate the world; it batters too much the wings of my self-will, and would I could take a sweet poison from your lips to send me out of it.
Isle of Wight, July 25

21 comments:

Woman in a Window said...

O

if it only weren't one of the sides of the coin that tumbles my fingers~

Trée said...

Erin, sometimes I appear brighter than I am. Please translate your comment for my feeble addled brain. Thanks.

Leslie Morgan said...

Tree . . . and from the Isle of Wight in the summer . . . beautiful!

Trée said...

Limes, wish I was there right now, looking over the ocean, sitting in the green grass and writing a few final thoughts to toss in a bottle.

Leslie Morgan said...

A red and white striped cabana on that green grass, the bottle swept out through the Channel . .

"Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear . . . we shall scrimp and save . . . "

Trée said...

Limes, I like the way you think. Count me in. :-)

I'm not familiar with the quote. What's the reference?

Woman in a Window said...

Translation:

I hold in my hand one coin. On one side I have a shining purpose, a burgeoning heart, loins well fed and spirit the sings like a silly chickadee.

On the other, I can't tolerate the world as it is and would end it all in a perfect moment with a bunny in a robe. (Me in the robe, not the bunny, although that might be a hilarious way to go.)

Trée said...

Erin, I think me and you need to have a night of drunken poetry. I have a whole series of poems written while intoxicated, which some say are my best work. :-D

Leslie Morgan said...

Ha! A little ditty from that bar band of my youth, The Beatles. This was from their little known album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It's called "When I'm 64". Told you I'm a lyrics weirdo!

Trée said...

May have to give that a listen. Thanks for the edumacation. Now bring on the limes, no pun intended. :-D

Trée said...

Well, maybe just a little. :-D

Leslie Morgan said...

Puns are GOOD! Maybe the most fun of all word play.

S. said...

I have this entire collection of letters written between lovers - hundreds of years old, some of them. Love and longing, eternal human conditions; only the vessels containing them has changed.

Woman in a Window said...

Tree, you would be all suave, arm back, spirit reclined and smooth, and I'd be all giggle, fart, passed out. Two drinks, my friend. OK, that's a lie. One. But the poetry sounds wonderful.

Trée said...

Erin, not so sure about that, but then again, if you're drunk, you'd never know otherwise. :-D

Trée said...

S., I enjoy Keats' letters as much as his poetry. I'm glad Fanny kept them for all those decades. I just wish we had the ones she wrote to him.

Trée said...

Limes, puns are good. Tequila is better. Bring salt. :-D

Leslie Morgan said...

You know, some of your draw is that you're relentless and able to conduct many conversations simultaneously.

No salt for me, but I've got kosher salt and a good grinder that I'll bring along for your enjoyment.

Trée said...

Sigh. Never been called relentless before. I'll need to sleep on that. I think I can carry on so many conversations because I have so many different voices in my head, each demanding equal time. ;-)

Leslie Morgan said...

I think you stole those words from one of my posts! I wonder if you're an only child? My daughter does it, too. I think my first post contained mention of her 'tend friends. She's always been very busy in that head. With visitors.

Trée said...

I was an only child for five years. Then my sister ruin it all. Forty some odd years later, I still haven't forgiven her. ;-)

As for the voices, well, I tend to process in an internal way rather than external.