My father used to say,
“Superior people never make long visits,
have to be shown Longfellow’s grave
nor the glass flowers at Harvard.
Self reliant like the cat —
that takes its prey to privacy,
the mouse’s limp tail hanging like a shoelace from its mouth —
they sometimes enjoy solitude,
and can be robbed of speech
by speech which has delighted them.
The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence;
not in silence, but restraint.”
Nor was he insincere in saying, “Make my house your inn.”
Inns are not residences.
(Marianne Moore)
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Based on Topics: Silence Poems, Speech Poems, Self Poems, Solitude Poems, Cats Poems, Privacy PoemsBased on Keywords: robbed, restraint, inns, harvard, insincere, longfellow, reliant, shoelace, residences