Poem(s) for the Day

If I were a cassowary
On the plains of Timbuctoo
I would eat a missionary
Cassock, bands and hymnbook too!

The joys of a well stocked mind mean that there is always something drifting around in one's brain for no particular reason.  I have always loved this poem, which was written by a jovial Victorian clergyman I think... Samuel Wilberforce according to some. There is an authoritative blog piece (illustrated!) about it here http://www.nonsenselit.org/wordpress/archives/2009/08/22/cassowary-vs-missionary/  but I quote it not for academic reasons, but just as a weird example of how things float into one's mind unbidden.

I think cassowaries are native to Australia.  It is just such a delightfully ludicrous rhyme - and the opening phrase "If I were...." sounds as if it is the opening of a sentimental love lyric, the sort of thing Tom Moore might have written.

However, no sooner do I think of Thos. Moore than I start thinking of this

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,

Which I gaze on so fondly today,

Were to change by tomorrow and fleet in my arms,

Like fairy wings fading away.

Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,

Let thy loveliness fade as it will;

And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

Would entwine itself verdantly still.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,

And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,

That the fervor and faith of a soul can be known,

To which time will but make thee more dear.

No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close:

As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets

The same look which she turned when he rose.

In fact, until I Googled it, I only knew the first line... and it's rather a treat to find "and around the dear ruin each wish of my heart..."  when one feels a bit of a "dear ruin" oneself - the idea of love as a sort of ivy that takes hold of the beloved and so on - feels very romantic until you think what ivy does to a building.  It's a striking metaphor though - and I'm tempted to steal it... but I think it would be improbable that my hero Leo would know the song, so a tender scene of him singing it to her will not be written!  

What T. Moore and I have in common is the use of the sunflower metaphor - and a horrible romantic sensibility which I sometimes think I would do anything to get rid of.   The last 4 lines of this poem c'est moi.  If I were married to my "god" and had been for 20 years or more, would I still be turning the same look on him?  That's the question.  I have never quite believed in lifelong love, because I haven't married it - or rather, I believe that over-close proximity may curdle love somewhat.  Is it possible to love someone, marry them and then really love them all your life?  The fact I don't entirely believe it possible is either a romantic defect in myself or perhaps a sensible pragmatic "love the one you're with" argument.  Nevertheless, it would have been nice to find out.  

It's a long way from Cassowaries...