Unromantic Love

By J. V. Cunningham 1911–1985

There is no stillness in this wood.

The quiet of this clearing

Is the denial of my hearing

The sounds I should.

There is no vision in this glade.

This tower of sun revealing

The timbered scaffoldage is stealing

Essence from shade.

Only my love is love’s ideal.

The love I could discover

In these recesses knows no lover,

Is the unreal,

The undefined, unanalysed,

Unabsolute many;

It is antithesis of any,

In none comprised.

J. V. Cunningham, “Unromantic Love” from The Exclusions of a Rhyme: Poems and Epigrams. Copyright © 1960 by J. V. Cunningham. Reprinted with the permission of Ohio University Press/Swallow Press, Athens, Ohio.

Source: The Exclusions of a Rhyme: Poems and Epigrams (Ohio University Press, 1960)

Unromantic Love

Unromantic Love

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