All Souls' Night
My love came back to me,
Under the November tree,
Shelterless and dim.
He put his hand upon my shoulder,
He did not think me strange or older,
Nor I him.
~~
Frances Cornford (1886-1960)
[Poem is in the public domain in Canada]
Saturday, November 2, 2019
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"All Soul's Night by Cornford was a favorite of Philip Larkin and his lover Maeve Brennan. The poem uses the superstition that a dead lover will appear to a still faithful partner on the festival of All Souls', November 2. After Larkin's death, Brennan would re-read the poem every November 2.... Although the poem is enhanced by the myth, it can also be read simply as the meeting of ex-lovers."
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