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Having it Out with Melancholy by Jane Kenyon - Poems | Academy of American Poets

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If many remedies are prescribed for an illness, you may be certain that the illness has no cure. A. P. CHEKHOV The Cherry Orchard From Constance by Jane Kenyon, published by Graywolf Press. © 1993 by Jane Kenyon. Used with permission. All rights reserved. About Jane Kenyon She lay on her back in the timothy and gazed past the doddering auburn heads of sumac. A cloud—huge, calm, and dignified—covered the sun but did not, could not, put it out. The light surged back again. The cousin from Maine, knowing about her diverticulitis, let out the nuts, so the cookies weren’t entirely to my taste, but they were good enough; yes, good enough. Each time I emptied a drawer or shelf I permitted myself to eat one. I cleared the closet of silk caftans that slipped easily from clattering hangers, and from the bureau I took her nightgowns and sweaters, financial documents neatly cinctured in long gray envelopes, and the hai

Having It out with Melancholy Add to anthology × Jane Kenyon 1947 - 1995 If many remedies are prescribed for an illness, you may be certain that the illness has no cure. —A. P. CHEKHOV The Cherry Orchard 1 FROM THE NURSERY When I was born, you waited behind a pile of linen in the nursery, and when we were alone, you lay down on top of me, pressing the bile of desolation into every pore. And from that day on everything under the sun and moon made me sad—even the yellow wooden beads that slid and spun along a spindle on my crib. You taught me to exist without gratitude. You ruined my manne

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