American Life in Poetry: Beloved
Ethelbert Miller is the master of the short, pithy lyric, packed with tenderness, a gentle wit, and moments of satisfying resonance.
Here is an ode to Spring that is also, at once, a love lyric. Though the object of affection in his poem “Beloved” is Spring, it is easy to see how the longing, the desire, the impulse to announce love of Spring, captures the sentiments of romantic love.
But since we are now in the throes of winter, it is also fitting to meditate with Miller on our longing for the rebirth of love’s season.
Beloved
By Ethelbert Miller
Please forgive me for forgetting.
I wanted to go outside and look for you.
I was told this was impossible.
I was instructed to stay indoors.
But my words for you need sun.
My heart needs air.
I love you Spring.
I miss your warmth.
Come unlock my door.
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2020 by E. Ethelbert Miller, “Beloved” from Washingtonian Magazine, May 15, 2020. Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2022 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.