The More Loving One by W.H. Auden
Reading my old entries in LiveJournal. Wow. I can’t believe I was so young, naive, and impressionable. Here’s a poem a friend suggested after reading what I wrote about my professor, who said, “You can’t evade it. It’s a fact of life. In a relationship, there’s always one of you who will love the other more. It will never be an ‘equal’ love, because that never happens. Now you just have to decide on your own – who would you be? The one who will be loved more, or the one who will love more?”
The More Loving One
W.H. AudenLooking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total darkness sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
Manreet
“Admirer as I think I am, of stars that do not give a damn.” Story of my life. And Auden as always knows just what to say. And, you as always know just what to post. Thank you.