Sonnet XIV
For A. and H.
![Sonnet XIV](/content/images/size/w1200/2024/06/bicycle.webp)
...and us! Of all experiments we made—
(when you had set up such a happy howl,
and then you pressed my tears into your face)—
the fiercest had us leaning cheek by jowl.
The falling was a quiet sort of gift,
a knowingly unknowing way to wend;
the going on was splendid in its thrift,
with words that went on crosswise to the end.
The walking was a way of standing still;
the twining was a way of spinning free;
the talking was a wayward sort of thrill,
and doing was another way to be.
The growing was the only way we grew:
the knowing was the only way we knew.
Related Reading
- Byron, George Gordon, Baron. “The Vision of Judgment,” Stanza XX.
- Roethke, Theodore. “I Knew a Woman.”
- Cummings, E. E. "My Girl’s Tall With Hard Long Eyes."
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