somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
somewhere I have never travelled
Does anyone else see the potential that he is talking about the sexuality between him and his lover in this poem? It is a very beautiful poem and i was wondering if anyone else saw that in it besides me
The most beautiful poem in the English language
What a lovely poem, I don’t understand it quite yet, but i’ll keep trying!
I think cummings has the heart of a child, the more I read of his poems, the more I am convinced that his gleeful and unashamedly sensuous prose is a true gift.
I think that as with all truly great love poetry, like Shakespeare’s sonnet 29, or cummings own “since feeling is first” They say things we wish we were capable of saying, and surround us with images that we want to beleive in, whether they are real or not.
I think the poem itself is fairly self explanatory:
“your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose”
“the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands”
If you read the verses offset you get different meanings, but I see the poem as a way of saying that no matter what he feels, or tries to hide, the woman has but to look at him, and he, like the flower, opens to to her.
“nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands”
If you like this, however, check out Rainer Maria Rilke, especially “letters to a young poet” magical stuff.
I am a 35 year old man, and this poem is so beautiful it makes me cry. Not figuratively, LITERALLY. I am weeping. God, this is so damn perfect. As someone implied above, it makes me happy that the world exists, so that this poem can exist in it.
can anyone tell me what “the glass menagerie is”? some of the comments refer to the epigraph of the the glass menagerie as the last line of one of cummings poems (nobody,not even the rain has such small hands)
yes i just came across it today too, that last line appearing as the epigraph [is that what you call it!?] for the glass menagerie. i believe it is to emphasize the delicacy of the person cummings is talking about, her gentleness moving him beyond words, perhaps her fragility arousing a lsight pretective instinct in him, her vulnerability. in the context of the glass menagerie, it could be a reference to Laura and her fragility [remember her lack of sel-confidence?], also her delicacy and love in handling her glass figures. i’m not quite sure, what do you think?
hi, can anyone tell me what
nobody, not even the rain has such some hands
means as it is the epigraph of The Glass Menagerie, can anyone shed light, btw I didn’t really get the peom :S
It is a lovely poem which when read give you happiness that this universe exists somewhere
It has been with me for many years. In times of loneliness and times more generous. Only Corad Aiken’s ” This is the Shape of the Leaf ” provides that mute palpability that is ” Somewhere “. If I could write but one poem in all the ones I’ve read then this would be it.
The first time I heard this poem was when a few lines of it was read on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 when the characters “Kelly” and “Brandon” were about to get married and “Brandon” read it to “Kelly”, and I knew then I had to access the entire pooem and I am glad I did, because it has become one of my two favorite poems. So beautifully written, this poem is so georgeous, I wish I had written it myself.
I dont know if anyone noticed bc i couldnt read all the post but Did anyone look at how many loves one can apply this to A mother/son a dad/daughter Bf/GF God and Im sure there is more all i can say is cummings rocks out I wish i could have met him and he is so antiscience its great
It is very moving to me to find people who love this poem as much as I do. I also first came across it in “Hannah…” but have since read the complete works and love all his poems. But this is without doubt my favourite poem of all time. I think that ee cummings is the person who taught me how to feel.
i think this poem is for a baby, this poem touches me in a way unfathomable, very heartwarming, soo beautiful, this is my favorite poem of all time.
first time fathers can relate to this.
I heard a bit of this poem years ago from “Hannah and her Sisters” and it captivated me. It popped back into my head tonight because of feeling I am having for a lady.It sums up what I am feeling so I had to send it on to her
This is my favorite poem. To me, it says everything you can say about being in love. What brilliant expression of feelings. It makes me want to be a poet.
To me, this poem is about the Holy Spirit, opening and closing our souls at Will and for the glory of God.
i love this poem cause it reminds me of my boyfriend…
this poem is truly captivating!!! there’s really magic in it that the one reading it would eventually fall in love!!! behind those words is a portrait that gives a deep meaning!!!!!