"my father moved through dooms of love" by E. E. Cummings

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34   my father moved through dooms of love through sames of am through haves of give, singing each morning out of each night my father moved through depths of height   this motionless forgetful where turned at his glance to shining here; that if (so timid air is firm) under his eyes would stir and squirm   newly as from unburied which floats the first who, his april touch drove sleeping selves to swarm their fates woke dreamers to their ghostly roots   and should some why completely weep my father's fingers brought her sleep: vainly no smallest voice might cry for he could feel the mountains grow.   Lifting the valleys of the sea my father moved through griefs of joy; praising a forehead called the moon singing desire into begin   joy was his song and joy so pure a heart of star by him could steer and pure so now and now so yes the wrists of twilight would rejoice   keen as midsummer's keen beyond conceiving mind of sun will stand, so strictly (over utmost him so hugely) stood my father's dream   his flesh was flesh his blood was blood: no hungry man but wished him food; no cripple wouldn't creep one mile uphill to only see him smile.   Scorning the Pomp of must and shall my father moved through dooms of feel; his anger was as right as rain his pity was as green as grain   septembering arms of year extend less humbly wealth to foe and friend than he to foolish and to wise  offered immeasurable is   proudly and (by octobering flame beckoned) as earth will downward climb, so naked for immortal work his shoulders marched against the dark   his sorrow was as true as bread: no liar looked him in the head; if every friend became his foe he'd laugh and build a world with snow.   My father moved through theys of we, singing each new leaf out of each tree (and every child was sure that spring danced when she heard my father sing)   then let men kill which cannot share, let blood and flesh be mud and mire, scheming imagine, passion willed, freedom a drug that's bought and sold   giving to steal and cruel kind, a heart to fear, to doubt a mind, to differ a disease of same, conform the pinnacle of am   though dull were all we taste as bright, bitter all utterly things sweet, maggoty minus and dumb death all we inherit, all bequeath   and nothing quite so least as truth —i say though hate were why men breathe— because my Father lived his soul love is the whole and more than all            Copyright © 1940, 1968, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust from The Complete Poems: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, Edited by George J. Firmage. Reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. About This Poem   "my father moved through dooms of love" was published in The Complete Poems: 1904–1962 (Liveright, 1991).   E. E. Cummings was born on October 14, 1894, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His collections of poetry include Tulips and Chimneys (T. Seltzer, 1923) and 50 Poems (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940). He died on September 3, 1962. Poetry by Cummings   E. E. Cummings: Complete Poems, 1904–1962 (Liveright, 2016)  "Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour" by Wallace Stevens "Conversation Galante" by T. S. Eliot "Stanzas in Meditation" by Gertrude Stein Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038