HE, SHE, IT and THEY

HE loved SHE, SHE loved HE;
Both were happy as can be.
IT was a love so very grand;
HE offered SHE a wedding band.

Then THEY began to speak -
IT was over in a week.

HE and SHE are now apart,
Each one guarding an injured heart.
THEY, it seems, are satisfied:
THEY succeeded at what THEY tried.

Jeff Lassen, July 1969

Commentary: As I start to orate my way through the many poems Jeff has left with me, this one really hit the spot. I say 'orate' because in correspondence with Jeff I mentioned how well it read and he replied how "all poetry is meant to be read aloud". I totally agree. If you can't read it aloud without tripping over the rhyme and meter then is it really a poem?

I like this poem's simple message. It is succinct and yet very prescient. It has humour yet, as all good humour has, there is a tragic element casually clothed in the wit of the thing. If you deconstruct this ten line gem you can glean a deeper understanding of human relationships in general and male-female ones in particular.

Read it aloud with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, then let it sink in and sit around in your head for a while. This is truly a case of there being more to this than meets the eye.

Perry Gamsby 2009