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And nothing is ever as you want to be by Brian Pat

10/11/2008 6:03:40 AM
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Brian Patten
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And nothing is ever as you want to be
 
  You lose your love for her and then
It is her who is lost,
And then it is both who are lost,
And nothing is ever as perfect as you want it to be.

In a very ordinary world
A most extraordinary pain mingles with the small routines,
The loss seems huge and yet
Nothing can be pinned down or fully explained.

You are afraid.
If you found the perfect love
It would scald your hands,
Rip the skin from your nerves,
Cause havoc with a computered heart.

You lose your love for her and then it is her who is lost.
You tried not to hurt and yet
Everything you touched became a wound.
You tried to mend what cannot be mended,
You tried, neither foolish nor clumsy,
To rescue what cannot be rescued.

You failed,
And now she is elsewhere
And her night and your night
Are both utterly drained.

How easy it would be
If love could be brought home like a lost kitten
Or gathered in like strawberries,
How lovely it would be;
But nothing is ever as perfect as you want it to be.

Brian Patten


Read poems about / on: lost, loss, home, pain, night, love, world, wind

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Comments about this poem (And nothing is ever as you want to be by Brian Patten)  more comments >>
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Helen Unknown (4/9/2008 5:44:00 AM)
I read this poem in an anthology of poetry and I couldn't believe how spot on Brian is/was.... the final stanza says it all, a very fine poem that deserves its place in the Top 500. HG: -) xx
Joan Maynard (4/22/2007 10:35:00 AM)
I too have long loved this poem... but in the printed version I have the title reads 'And nothing is ever AS PERFECT as you want it to be'

Ah, now that's better!

Read all 6 comments >>
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10/11/2008 6:03:40 AM. You Are Here: And nothing is ever as you want to be by Brian Patten

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