A pantoum borrowing lines from an old song. Dedicated to my grandfather. |
You always hurt the one you love* A pantoum for Grumpy It’s ‘cause I love you most of all that I don’t think before I speak, so if I broke your heart last night just let me blame the Mills’s drawl. You never think before you speak to one you shouldn’t hurt at all. Just let me blame the Mills’s drawl: “You always hurt the one you love, the one you shouldn’t hurt at all…” It’s strange that what they say rings true: you always hurt the one you love, whose precious presence will not pall. It’s strange that what they say rings true. You crush them till their petals fall, whose precious presence will not pall. “You always take the sweetest rose and crush it till the petals fall…” I hope you see past my betise. You always take the sweetest rose; you find the softness ‘tween the thorns. I hope you see past my betise, my hasty words I can’t recall. Please find the softness ‘tween the thorns. “You always break the kindest heart with hasty words you can’t recall, so if I broke your heart last night…” (you always break the kindest heart) “it’s ‘cause I love you most of all.” *You always hurt the one you love You always hurt the one you love The one you shouldn’t hurt at all You always take the sweetest rose And crush it till the petals fall You always break the kindest heart With a hasty word you can’t recall So if I broke you heart last night It’s because I love you most of all Written by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher. Recorded by The Mills Brothers in 1944. *A pantoum is a traditional Malayan form of poetry which utilises a strict form of line repetition where lines 2 and 4 of one stanza are lines 1 and 3 of the next respectively. Lines 1 and 3 from the first stanza also make lines 2 and 4 of the last stanza respectively, to complete the circle of repetiton. The lines are in iambic tetrameter. |