'Go ahead . . .risk curiosity'

 

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – e. e. cummings

 

Born in Cambridge, MA on Oct. 14, 1894, Edward Estlin "E. E." Cummings wrote nearly 3,000 poems, 2 autobiographical novels, 4 plays and several essays and was one of the eminent “voices” of 20^th century English-language literature.  Cummings' poetry often dealt with themes of love and nature but he said some were “just for fun.”  For Saturday’s Poem, here is,

 

                                                If

If freckles were lovely, and day was night,
And measles were nice and a lie warn’t a lie,
Life would be delight, --

But things couldn’t go right
For in such a sad plight
I wouldn’t be I.

If earth was heaven and now was hence,
And past was present, and false was true,
There might be some sense
But I’d be in suspense
For on such a pretense
You wouldn’t be you.

If fear was plucky, and globes were square,
And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee
 Things would seem fair, – 

Yet they’d all despair,
For if here was there
We – wouldn’t be we.