Don'tcha Kinda Gotta Like This Guy?

William Carlos Williams, "Danse Russe"


If I when my wife is sleeping

Ballet russe (photo of Adolph Bolm and Flore Revalles, taken in 1910)

and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,--
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
"I am lonely, lonely.
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!"
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
again the yellow drawn shades,--
Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?
[c. 1917]

FAULTS

Poetry is not liked too much by many of us.  I like it because of the English classes I took back in the day and also, I think because of scripture.  

But I think most everyone will like this one because it’s simple, to the point, and because most of us would like to be liked because of, and not just in spite of, all our faults.  

It’s also a nice thought for a Sunday afternoon, don’t you think?

Sara Teasdale

FAULTS
They came to tell your faults to me,

They named them over one by one;

I laughed aloud when they were done,

I knew them all so well before, —

Oh, they were blind, too blind to see

Your faults had made me love you more.

BY SARA TEASDALE