“i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)”
E.E. Cummings
I’m singing a song by John Duke that sets this poem. It’s easily one of my favorites. Whenever I sing it, I sing to Jesus. Although it’s quite possible Cummings was speaking of love between two humans in the poem, he does give it an overall sense of eternity and intimacy that I can only liken to those qualities of love between mankind and Creator. Bride and Bridegroom. Host and Holy Spirit.
For who else can say that their lover is the reason the moon and sun exist? That they are the heart of all living things—wholly infinite? Or that they not only motivate but actually carry out the tasks we ourselves do out of love? That sounds to me like something only the Holy Spirit can do, and a description that only a God (who is three persons in one) can fit. And at the center of the poem is this truth, and the reason I love this poem so much: we, the church, are the bearers of Christ’s heart to the world. Not only that but we belong to someone, and he is ours completely. I am my beloved’s and He is mine… Forever! How splendid!
