She Walks in Beauty_ A Woman's Journey Through Poems - Caroline Kennedy [1]
Notes from the Delivery Room LINDA PASTAN
Socks SHARON OLDS
High School Senior SHARON OLDS
Nobody Knows But Mother MARY MORRISON
From “Clearances,” In Memoriam M.K.H. (1911–1984) SEAMUS HEANEY
if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have E. E. CUMMINGS
Somebody’s Mother MARY DOW BRINE
The Book of Ruth 1:16–17
The Dream That I Told My Mother-in-Law ELIZABETH ALEXANDER
Mother’s Closet MAXINE SCATES
Ode ELIZABETH ALEXANDER
Vietnam WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA
A Child MARY LAMB
blessing the boats LUCILLE CLIFTON
SILENCE AND SOLITUDE
* * *
I’m happiest when most away EMILY BRONTË
Keeping Things Whole MARK STRAND
We All Know It MARIANNE MOORE
As Much As You Can CONSTANTINE P. CAVAFY
Sense of Something Coming RAINER MARIA RILKE
Death, Etc. MAXINE KUMIN
From When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone GALWAY KINNELL
Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain LI PO
The Poems of Our Climate WALLACE STEVENS
GROWING UP AND GROWING OLD
* * *
You Begin MARGARET ATWOOD
Grown-up EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
Puberty—With Capital Letters ELLEN HAGAN
Bra Shopping PARNESHIA JONES
The Summer Day MARY OLIVER
Living DENISE LEVERTOV
I stepped from plank to plank EMILY DICKINSON
to my last period LUCILLE CLIFTON
lumpectomy eve LUCILLE CLIFTON
Older, Younger, Both JOYCE SUTPHEN
Survivor ROGER McGOUGH
You Can’t Have It All BARBARA RAS
Sign MARGE PIERCY
The Greatest Love ANNA SWIR
Time MARY URSULA BETHELL
Going Blind RAINER MARIA RILKE
Old Woman ELIZABETH JENNINGS
Let It Be Forgotten SARA TEASDALE
Courage ANNE SEXTON
DEATH AND GRIEF
* * *
The Bustle in a House EMILY DICKINSON
Never More Will the Wind H. D.
Grief ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
The Widow’s Lament in Springtime WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
Companion JO McDOUGALL
Remember CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
From To W. P. GEORGE SANTAYANA
To Death OLIVER ST. JOHN GOGARTY
That it is a road ARIWARA NO NARIHARA
From In Memoriam A. H. H. ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
Reconciliation WALT WHITMAN
FRIENDSHIP
* * *
A Poem of Friendship NIKKI GIOVANNI
Letter to N.Y. ELIZABETH BISHOP
On Gifts for Grace BERNADETTE MAYER
Love ROY CROFT
To Hayley WILLIAM BLAKE
A Poison Tree WILLIAM BLAKE
August LOUISE GLÜCK
Summer at the Beach LOUISE GLÜCK
Girlfriends ELLEN DORÉ WATSON
My Friend’s Divorce NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
Chocolate RITA DOVE
Magnificat MICHÈLE ROBERTS
Secret Lives BARBARA RAS
To Flush, My Dog ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
HOW TO LIVE
* * *
May 2 DAVID LEHMAN
From a Letter to His Daughter RALPH WALDO EMERSON
To be of use MARGE PIERCY
Leap Before You Look W. H. AUDEN
Try to Praise the Mutilated World ADAM ZAGAJEWSKI
Leisure W. H. DAVIES
The Waking THEODORE ROETHKE
September, 1918 AMY LOWELL
6 A.M. Thoughts DICK DAVIS
A Minor Bird ROBERT FROST
May today there be peace within ST. TERESA OF AVILA
The Bacchae Chorus EURIPIDES
The Dawn W. B. YEATS
Don’t Quit UNKNOWN
All Things Pass LAO-TZU
Simple Gifts ANONYMOUS (SHAKER HYMN)
24th September 1945 NAZIM HIKMET
The Journey MARY OLIVER
Ithaka CONSTANTINE P. CAVAFY
The Colder the Air ELIZABETH BISHOP
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CREDITS
About the Author
Also by Caroline Kennedy
Copyright
She walks in beauty
GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow’d to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair’d the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
INTRODUCTION
THIS BOOK BEGAN around the time I turned fifty. Like my friends who had been there before me, I dreaded it for months, and was relieved when it was over and life seemed much