'A condition, not a profession'

 "To be a poet is a condition rather than a profession."    –  Robert Graves

 

Born in Wimbledon, England on July 24, 1895 Graves was a second-generation poet, the son of the celebrated Irish poet Alfred Percival Graves.  He wrote more than 140 poetic works, some for adults and some for children, as well as several award-winning novels, including I, Claudius and Claudius The God, still bestsellers.

 

For Saturday’s Poem here are two short Graves’ poems – the first for adults; the second for children – or both for adults depending on how childlike you feel.  Cheers!

 

     Symptoms of Love

Love is universal migraine,
bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason.

Symptoms of true love
Are leanness, jealousy,
Laggard dawns;

Are omens and nightmares -
Listening for a knock,
Waiting for a sign:

For a touch of her fingers
In a darkened room,
For a searching look.

Take courage, lover!
Could you endure such pain
At any hand but hers?

  

       I’d Love To Be A Fairy’s Child

Children born of fairy stock
Never need for shirt or frock,
Never want for food or fire,
Always get their hearts desire:
Jingle pockets full of gold,
Marry when they're seven years old.
Every fairy child may keep
Two ponies and ten sheep;
All have houses, each his own,
Built of brick or granite stone;
They live on cherries, they run wild--
I'd love to be a Fairy's child.