Endlessly Rocking Poem by Dónall Dempsey
Endlessly Rocking
She treasures
the book.
It never leaves
her hands
leather bound
sweet & soft
as suede
She caresses
it
& it
caresses her
her fingertips
trace
the gold
embossed letters
LEAVES OF GRASS
she can’t
read
but has memorised
each line
each page
each word
knows how
& where
it all goes
learnt
by heart
amazing all the illiterate ears
that hear her
she amasses
all the voices
of anyone who ever
read it to her
as I read it
to her now
this
the gift
of a long ago love
(now long dead)
who read it
to her first
a young woman
madly in love
unschooled in words
and flesh
being touched
with a passion
a naked
desire for words
being read to
by her first and only love
the words live
inside her
undaunted by old age
she sings
of her self
her lips
follow mine
line after line
and when I stop
she...
...continues on
and then
waits for my voice
to catch up
I follow after her
stumbling through the years
She strokes
the inscription
as if it were a person
kisses the letters
as if they were the lips
that first read to her
TO MY DEAREST EMILY
LOVE ALWAYS JOHN
1933.
“John...John...John! ”
This is one of the most perfect love poems I have ever read. The tenderness of her touch on the letters and texture of the book, the memorisation of every word, her very 'song of herself, ' all come together to bring perfection to a love long passed, yet forever here. Lucky the woman who finds this kind of love once in a lifetime.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/19/2024 9:58:50 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Oh this is so beautiful and touching. This is a thing of beauty and a joy for ever! I so much love love it. See...ya got me talking double! love to a darling darling Donall Donall