Now let no charitable hope
I found this poem almost thirteen years ago on one of the ‘Poetry in Motion’ ads on the subway. It stayed with me. I used to use it as my email signature when kids did such things. I’ve posted it on the eve of my birthday for the last few years.
Now let no charitable hope
Confuse my mind with images
Of eagle and of antelope:
I am by nature none of these.
I was, being human, born alone;
I am, being woman, hard beset;
I live by squeezing from a stone
What little nourishment I get.
In masks outrageous and austere
The years go by in single file;
But none has merited my fear,
And none has quite escaped my smile.
—-Elinor Wylie (1885-1928)