For those just joining me, the challenge is to read a poem a week for the whole year. I’ll be posting which poems I read for the given week (or at least portions of the poem with a link to the full poem elsewhere.)
Because poetry — good poetry — is meant to be profound and intimate, I will only post reactions to the poems on rare occasions. In other words, read the poem yourself and see what jumps out at you. What I see isn’t necessarily what you’re going to see.
Entry #2 — Longing by Matthew Arnold
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
Come, as thou cam’st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me!
Or, as thou never cam’st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth,
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say, My love why sufferest thou?
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
AJMaguire 