Dorothy Parker: A Very Short Song

Dorothy Parker
(22 August, 1893 - 7 June, 1967)

A Very Short Song

Once, when I was young and true

     Someone left me sad –

Broken my brittle heart in two

     And that is very bad.

Love is for unlucky folk,

    Love is but a curse.

Once there was a heart I broke;

    And that, I think, is worse.

                                    ~ ~ ~ 

  

Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.

From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary output in such venues as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the break-up of the circle, Parker travelled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award. Her screenwriting career was curtailed by being blacklisted by Hollywood for her involvement in left-wing politics.  

Her book reviews appeared semi-regularly from 1927 to 1933, were widely read, and were later published in a collection under the name Constant Reader in 1970. She became famous for her short, viciously humorous poems, many about the perceived ludicrousness of her many (largely unsuccessful) romantic affairs, wistfully considering the appeal of suicide. 

Dorothy Parker: Love Song

Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967)

Love Song

My own dear love, he is strong and bold

    And he cares not what comes after.

His words ring sweet as a chime of gold,

    And his eyes are lit with laughter.

He is jubilant as a flag unfurled --

    Oh, a girl, she'd not forget him.

My own dear love, he is all my world, --

    And I wish I'd never met him.

My love, he's mad, and my love, he's fleet,

    And a wild young wood-thing bore him!

The ways are fair to his roaming feet,

    And the skies are sunlit for him.

As sharply sweet to my heart he seems

    As the fragrance of acacia.

My own dear love, he is all my dreams, --

    And I wish he were in Asia.

My love runs by like a day in June,

    And he makes no friends of sorrows.

He'll tread his galloping rigadoon

    In the pathway of the morrows.

He'll live his days where the sunbeams start,

    Nor could storm or wind uproot him.

My own dear love, he is all my heart, --

    And I wish somebody'd shoot him.

                                        ~ ~ ~

Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.

From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary output in such venues as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the break-up of the circle, Parker travelled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award. Her screenwriting career was curtailed by being blacklisted by Hollywood for her involvement in left-wing politics.  

Her book reviews appeared semi-regularly from 1927 to 1933, were widely read, and were later published in a collection under the name Constant Reader in 1970.

She was famous for her short, viciously humorous poems, many about the perceived ludicrousness of her many (largely unsuccessful) romantic affairs, and others wistfully considering the appeal of suicide.

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Dorothy Parker: Finis

Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967)

Finis

Now it's over, and now it's done;

    Why does everything look the same?

Just as bright, the unheeding sun, --

    Can't it see that the parting came?

People hurry and work and swear,

    Laugh and grumble and die and wed,

Ponder what they will eat and wear, --

    Don't they know that our love is dead?

Just as busy, the crowded street;

    Cars and wagons go rolling on,

Children chuckle, and lovers meet, --

    Don't they know that our love is gone?

No one pauses to pay a tear;

    None walks slow, for the love that's through, --

I might mention, my recent dear,

    I've reverted to normal, too.

                   ~ ~ ~

 Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.

From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary output in such venues as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the break-up of the circle, Parker travelled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award. Her screenwriting career was curtailed by being blacklisted by Hollywood for her involvement in left-wing politics.  

Her book reviews appeared semi-regularly from 1927 to 1933, were widely read, and were later published in a collection under the name Constant Reader in 1970.

She was famous for her short, viciously humorous poems, many about the perceived ludicrousness of her many (largely unsuccessful) romantic affairs, and others wistfully considering the appeal of suicide. 

Use the search box in the blog header

to search the site for poets, poems, or single words.