Mar 18 2009
∞
April 14, 2006: Wish For a Young Wife, Theodore Roethke
Wish For a Young Wife
Theodore Roethke
My lizard, my lively writher,
May your limbs never wither,
May the eyes in your face
Survive the green ice
Of envy’s mean gaze;
May you live out your life
Without hate, without grief,
And your hair ever blaze,
In the sun, in the sun,
When I am undone,
When I am no one.
[The rhythm of those last three lines is wonderful, and the whole
thing is so wistful. I like the idea of this addressed to a child, as
well. It reminds me of Marilynne Robinson’s recent novel Gilead —
which is absolutely lovely.]
A YEAR AGO TODAY: The Benjamin Franklin of Monogamy, Jeffrey McDaniel
