John Ashbery


Ashbery Annotated Tennis Court Oath

Two Sonnets

from The Tennis Court Oath (1962)

                              I. DIDO
	 
        The body’s products become
	Fatal to it.  Our spit
	Would kill us, but we
	Die of our heat.
	Though I say the things I wish to say
	They are needless, their own flame conceives it.
	So I am cheated of perfection.
	 
                              II. THE IDIOT
	 
        O how this sullen, careless world
	Ignorant of me is!  These rocks, those homes
	Know not the touch of my flesh, now is there one tree
	Whose shade has known me for a friend.
	I’ve wandered the wide world over.
	No man I’ve known, no friendly beast
	Has come and put its nose into my hands.
	No maid has welcomed my face with a kiss.
	 
        Yet once, as I took passage
	From Gibraltar to Cape Horn
	I met some friendly mariners on the boat
	And as we struggled to keep the ship from sinking
	The very waves seemed friendly, and the sound
	The pray made as it hit the front of the boat.

John Ashbery

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