PolyArchive

Separation W. S. Merwin Your absence has gone through me Like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color.

A Remedy for Insomnia Vera Pavlova (tr. Steven Seymour) Not sheep coming down the hills, not cracks on the ceiling— count the ones you loved, the former tenants of dreams who would keep you awake, once meant the world to you, rocked you in their arms, those who loved you . . . You will […]

Never Give All the Heart William Butler Yeats Never give all the heart, for love Will hardly seem worth thinking of To passionate women if it seem Certain, and they never dream That it fades out from kiss to kiss; For everything that’s lovely is But a brief, dreamy, kind delight. O never give the […]

After a While Veronica A. Shoffstall (1952-2024) After a while, you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul, and you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning and company doesn’t mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts and presents aren’t promises, and you begin to accept your […]

Links of the Week, vol. 4 The following are links to interesting content we’ve read recently. If you would like to recommend a piece to share with our readers (no paywalled content, please), please use the contact form on our About page. ────────────── ● ────────────── Olga Khazan | The Atlantic: We Expect Too Much From […]

The Underground Seamus Heaney There we were in the vaulted tunnel running, You in your going-away coat speeding ahead And me, me then like a fleet god gaining Behind you before you turned to a reed Or some new white flower japped with crimson As the coat flapped wild and button after button Sprang off […]

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” ― Albert Schweitzer  

Sonnet V Edna St. Vincent Millay IF I should learn, in some quite casual way, That you were gone, not to return again— Read from the back-page of a paper, say, Held by a neighbor in a subway train, How at the corner of this avenue And such a street (so are the papers filled) […]