'L'Amitié est l'Amour sans ailes.'
FRIENDSHIP, as some sage poet sings,
Is chasten'd Love, depriv'd of wings,
Without all wish or power to wander;
Less volatile, but not less tender:
Yet says the proverbs'Sly and slow
'Love creeps, even where he cannot go;'
To clip his pinions then is vain,
His old propensities remain;
And she, who years beyond fifteen,
Has counted twenty, may have seen
How rarely unplum'd Love will stay;
He flies notbut he coolly walks away.
I loved this stanza so much..To quote And she, who years beyond fifteen, Has counted twenty, may have seen How rarely unplum'd Love will stay; He flies notbut he coolly walks away. Thanks for the sharing.
However, the genius of this poem lies on the second stanza, as the interaction between He and She becomes unclear and intertwined- the poet doesn't give a clear hint of how rarely unplumed love will stay, but instead suggests many alternatives leaving the audience an open end of story.
Intimacy, Passion and Commitment are three quintessential factors of Loving. Here, the poet differentiates liking and loving in that liking is constituted of intimacy only, but loving needs to be satisfied all of three.
In this poem as in many others, the aphorisms are didactic and instructive. Like Anne Carson, Suzanne Buffam, Chelsey Minnis, or Elizabeth Willis, Charlotte Smith uses the lyric aphorism to explain a model of logic, an accumulative one. beautiful poem. Voted 10.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
'Love creeps, even where he cannot go'! Thanks for sharing.