On Giving

Those who dare give nothing
Are left with less than nothing;
Dear heart, you give me everything,
Which leaves you more than everything-
Though those who dare give nothing
Might judge it left you less than nothing.

Giving you everything,
I too, who once had nothing,
Am left with more than everything
As gifts for those with nothing
Who need, if not our everything,
At least a loving something

Robert Graves
Born: 18 July 1895, London, England
Nationality: English
Died: 7 December 1985, Deià, Spain

Graves was a poet, historical novelist, and critic. His father was the Irish poet Alfred Perceval Graves and both were Celticists and students of Irish mythology. Graves produced over 140 works in his lifetime. His poems, translations and innovative analysis of Greek mythology, memoirs, and his study of poetic inspiration “The White Goddess” have never been out of print

I’d Love to Be a Fairy’s Child
1918

Children born of fairy stock
Never need for shirt or frock,
Never want for food or fire,
Always get their hearts desire:
Jingle pockets full of gold,
Marry when they’re seven years old.
Every fairy child may keep
Two strong ponies and ten sheep;
All have houses, each his own,
Built of brick or granite stone;
They live on cherries, they run wild–
I’d love to be a Fairy’s child

Robert Graves
Born: 18 July 1895, London, England
Nationality: English
Died: 7 December 1985, Deià, Spain

Graves was a poet, historical novelist, and critic. His father was the Irish poet Alfred Perceval Graves and both were Celticists and students of Irish mythology. Graves produced over 140 works in his lifetime. His poems, translations and innovative analysis of Greek mythology, memoirs, and his study of poetic inspiration “The White Goddess” have never been out of print

Call It a Good Marriage
1962

Call it a good marriage –
For no one ever questioned
Her warmth, his masculinity,
Their interlocking views;
Except one stray graphologist
Who frowned in speculation
At her h’s and her s’s,
His p’s and w’s.

Though few would still subscribe
To the monogamic axiom
That strife below the hip-bones
Need not estrange the heart,
Call it a good marriage:
More drew those two together,
Despite a lack of children,
Than pulled them apart.

Call it a good marriage:
They never fought in public,
They acted circumspectly
And faced the world with pride;
Thus the hazards of their love-bed
Were none of our damned business –
Till as jurymen we sat on
Two deaths by suicide

Robert Graves
Born: 18 July 1895, London, England
Nationality: English
Died: 7 December 1985, Deià, Spain

Graves was a poet, historical novelist, and critic. His father was the Irish poet Alfred Perceval Graves and both were Celticists and students of Irish mythology. Graves produced over 140 works in his lifetime. His poems, translations and innovative analysis of Greek mythology, memoirs, and his study of poetic inspiration “The White Goddess” have never been out of print