a whole life in a few lines

Robyn sent me a poem by Kenneth Fearing (1902-1961) called Love 20¢
the First Quarter Mile
. I’m not sure why it struck such a chord with me, but this is the kind of poetry that I love best. The first stanza:


All right. I may have lied to you and about you, and made a 
few pronouncements a bit too sweeping, perhaps, and 
possibly forgotten to tag the bases here or there,
And damned your extravagance, and maligned your tastes, 
and libeled your relatives, and slandered a few of your 
friends, O. K. ,
Nevertheless, come back.

You can read the whole thing here.