English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Happiness. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл)

Happiness

Happiness, to some, elation;
Is, to others, mere stagnation.
Days of passive somnolence,
At its wildest, indolence.
Hours of empty quietness,
No delight, and no distress.
Happiness to me is wine,
Effervescent, superfine.
Full of tang and fiery pleasure,
Far too hot to leave me leisure
For a single thought beyond it.
Drunk!  Forgetful!  This the bond:  it
Means to give one’s soul to gain
Life’s quintessence.  Even pain
Pricks to livelier living, then
Wakes the nerves to laugh again,
Rapture’s self is three parts sorrow.
Although we must die to-morrow,
Losing every thought but this;
Torn, triumphant, drowned in bliss.
Happiness:  We rarely feel it.
I would buy it, beg it, steal it,
Pay in coins of dripping blood
For this one transcendent good.

Amy Lowell’s other poems:

1. The Fool Errant
2. The Cyclists
3. The Paper Windmill
4. To Elizabeth Ward Perkins
5. The Green Bowl

Poems of other poets with the same name (Стихотворения других поэтов с таким же названием):

Alan Milne (Алан Милн) Happiness (“John had”)

Edith Wharton (Эдит Уортон) Happiness (“THIS perfect love can find no words to say”)

Ella Wilcox (Элла Уилкокс) Happiness (“There are so many little things which make life beautiful”)

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