{"id":56081,"date":"2019-02-02T05:30:21","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T10:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/?p=56081"},"modified":"2019-02-02T09:05:10","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T14:05:10","slug":"the-crack-in-the-tea-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/the-crack-in-the-tea-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"The crack in the tea-cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s February 2, time to post<\/a> another favorite poem<\/a>. This year it’s W.H. Auden’s “As As I Walked Out One Evening.”<\/p>\n

As I walked out one evening,
\nWalking down Bristol Street,
\nThe crowds upon the pavement
\nWere fields of harvest wheat.<\/p>\n

And down by the brimming river
\nI heard a lover sing
\nUnder an arch of the railway:
\n\u2018Love has no ending.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ll love you, dear, I\u2019ll love you
\nTill China and Africa meet,
\nAnd the river jumps over the mountain
\nAnd the salmon sing in the street,<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ll love you till the ocean
\nIs folded and hung up to dry
\nAnd the seven stars go squawking
\nLike geese about the sky.<\/p>\n

\u2018The years shall run like rabbits,
\nFor in my arms I hold
\nThe Flower of the Ages,
\nAnd the first love of the world.’<\/p>\n

But all the clocks in the city
\nBegan to whirr and chime:
\n\u2018O let not Time deceive you,
\nYou cannot conquer Time.<\/p>\n

\u2018In the burrows of the Nightmare
\nWhere Justice naked is,
\nTime watches from the shadow
\nAnd coughs when you would kiss.<\/p>\n

\u2018In headaches and in worry
\nVaguely life leaks away,
\nAnd Time will have his fancy
\nTo-morrow or to-day.<\/p>\n

\u2018Into many a green valley
\nDrifts the appalling snow;
\nTime breaks the threaded dances
\nAnd the diver\u2019s brilliant bow.<\/p>\n

\u2018O plunge your hands in water,
\nPlunge them in up to the wrist;
\nStare, stare in the basin
\nAnd wonder what you\u2019ve missed.<\/p>\n

\u2018The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
\nThe desert sighs in the bed,
\nAnd the crack in the tea-cup opens
\nA lane to the land of the dead.<\/p>\n

\u2018Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
\nAnd the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
\nAnd the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
\nAnd Jill goes down on her back.<\/p>\n

\u2018O look, look in the mirror,
\nO look in your distress:
\nLife remains a blessing
\nAlthough you cannot bless.<\/p>\n

\u2018O stand, stand at the window
\nAs the tears scald and start;
\nYou shall love your crooked neighbour
\nWith your crooked heart.’<\/p>\n

It was late, late in the evening,
\nThe lovers they were gone;
\nThe clocks had ceased their chiming,
\nAnd the deep river ran on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(The second and fourth lines of each stanza should be indented, but I don’t know a simple way to make WordPress do that.)<\/p>\n

Listen to Auden reading his poem here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s February 2, time to post another favorite poem. This year it’s W.H. Auden’s “As As I Walked Out One Evening.” As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch … Continue reading “The crack in the tea-cup”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xam3-eAx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56081"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56254,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56081\/revisions\/56254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}