News & Views
Poems for These Times: 4
(19 April 2020)
Trust
by D. H. Lawrence
This week’s poem is by the English writer, D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930). Most famous for his novels, he wrote poems of startling originality and insight into the spiritual depths of our human nature.
Trust
Oh we’ve got to trust
one another again
in some essentials.
Not the narrow little
bargaining trust
that says: I’m for you
if you’ll be for me.
But a bigger trust,
a trust of the sun
that does not bother
about moth and rust,
and we see it shining
in one another.
Oh don’t you trust me,
don’t burden me
with your life and affairs; don’t
thrust me
into your cares.
But I think you may trust
the sun in me
that glows with just
as much glow as you see
in me, and no more.
But if it warms
your heart’s quick core
why then trust it, it forms
one faithfulness more.
And be, oh be
a sun to me,
not a weary, insistent
personality
but a sun that shines
and goes dark, but shines
again and entwines
with the sunshine in me
till we both of us
are more glorious
and more sunny.
Poems for These Times
‘Poems for These Times’ is a special collection of poetry offered in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is intended as a way of sustaining us, and to give us something on which to meditate together during these difficult and challenging times.
There will be just one poem each week, so that we can really stay with what is offered. We can read it – perhaps aloud – to ourselves or to any companions in our isolation, and sense the vibrations through our whole being. For poetry has the power to affect us on every level – body, mind, heart and soul. It has a magic, which, in the words of poet Adrienne Rich:
“… goes back very far: the rune; the chant; the incantation; the spell; the kenning; sacred words; the naming of the child; the plant, the insect, the ocean, the configuration of stars, the snow, the sensation in the body… The physical reality of the human voice.”
Of course, not every poem will appeal to everyone – that is inevitable. But there is also the possibility that staying with something that does not immediately appeal can be stimulating and helpful. Experience suggests that sustained attention and contemplation of a poem’s music, words and thoughts can be deeply rewarding.
It would be lovely to share any responses and thoughts you may have through our comments section below.
Barbara Vellacott
Sources (click to close)
Poem: D. H. Lawrence, Selected Poems (Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 1992)
Banner: Cape Town, South Africa: children put on face masks donated by Mr Henri Ludski, a local printer, at a shopping centre in Makhaza, Khayelitsha, after the government declared a 21 day COVID-19 lockdown. Photograph: Roger Sedres/Alamy Live News, 30th March, 2020.
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READERS’ COMMENTS
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Just so
That is a lovely poem and very apt for these times.
D.H. Laurence displays his raw honesty here, which is just what we need to transform our experiences in a positive way. I welcome the slow pace of life and more meaningful meeting with each other, to do what the poem says.
Translation into Spanish of D.H. Lawrence’s poem:
Confiar
Oh, tenemos que confiar
unos de otros otra vez,
en lo más esencial.
No el estrecho pobre
confiar que regatea,
que dice: Yo por ti
si tú estás por mi.
Un confiar más grande,
Un confiar en el sol
a quien no le importa
la polilla o el oxido
y lo vemos brillar
sobre lo uno y lo otro.
Oh, no confies en mi,
no me sobrecargues
con tu vida y asuntos,
no me lances a mi
dentro de tu sufrir.
Pero puedes confiar
en el sol dentro de mi
que brilla justo con
la luz que ves en mi
y nada más.
Pero si caiienta
tu palpitante corazón
entonces confia en él.
El forma una fé más.
Y sé, oh, sé
un sol para mi,
no una cansada
insistente personalidad,
si no un sol que brilla
y oscurece, pero brilla
otra vez y se enlaza
con la luz del sol en mi
hasta que tu y yo
somos más gloriosos
y más grandes soles.
D.H. Lawrence
Traducción de Jose L Varela-Ibarra
http://www.transculturallinguist.com
Confiar
Oh, tenemos que confiar
unos de otros otra vez,
en lo más esencial.
No el estrecho pobre
confiar que regatea,
que dice: Yo por ti
si tú estás por mi.
Un confiar más grande,
Un confiar en el sol
a quien no le importa
la polilla o lo oxidado
y lo vemos brillar
sobre lo uno y lo otro.
Oh, no confies en mi,
no me sobrecargues
con tu vida y asuntos,
no me lances a mi
dentro de tus problemas.
Pero puedes confiar
en el sol dentro de mi
que brilla justo con
la luz que ves en mi
y nada más.
Pero si caiienta
tu palpitante corazón
entonces confia en él,
forma una fé más.
Y sé, oh, sé
un sol para mi,
no una cansada
insistente personalidad,
si no un sol que brilla
y oscurece, pero brilla
otra vez y se enlaza
con la luz del sol en mi
hasta que tu y yo
somos más gloriosos
y mayores soles.
D.H. Lawrence
Traducción de Jose L Varela-Ibarra
http://www.transculturallinguist.com
Sorry. I did not see it appear in the comments section the first time I sent my translation.
Wonderfully well chosen poem. Thank you.
Wonderful poem… Just what I needed to hear today… Thank you Keith…. Thank You God…