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17 December 2020

Poetry Thursday - The More Loving One, by WH Auden

    The More Loving One
    Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
    That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
    But on earth indifference is the least
    We have to dread from man or beast.

    How should we like it were stars to burn
    With a passion for us we could not return?
    If equal affection cannot be,
    Let the more loving one be me.

    Admirer as I think I am
    Of stars that do not give a damn,
    I cannot, now I see them, say
    I missed one terribly all day.

    Were all stars to disappear or die,
    I should learn to look at an empty sky
    And feel its total dark sublime,
    Though this might take me a little time.


    The poem was recommended by Alexander McCall Smith when he answered readers' questions in a short video in April 2020. 

    In this short video, he reads a very short story from his latest collection.


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