Uploaded on February 27, 2012

Cliff Klingenhagen had me in to dine
With him one day; and after soup and meat,
And all the other things there were to eat,

Cliff took two glasses and filled one with wine
And one with wormwood. Then, without a sign,
For me to choose at all, he took the draught
Of bitterness himself, and lightly quaffed
It off, and said the other one was mine.

And when I asked him what the deuce he meant
By doing that, he only looked at me
And smiled, and said it was a way of his.
And though I know the fellow, I have spent
Long time a-wondering when I shall be
As happy as Cliff Klingenhagen is.

—Edwin Arlington Robinson
A Selection of Modern American Poetry in Reader’s Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers


02.27.2024: Wormwood: everywhere I turn these days.