Some Poetic Advice for a Love-Struck Governor

The great Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (and who can resist an Argentine) once wrote:

If I could live again my life,
In the next - I'll try,
- to make more mistakes,
I won't try to be so perfect

Borges wrote these lines at the age of 85, so South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who discovered their wisdom before turning 50 (and then acted on it) is, in some ways, way ahead of him. Sanford--whose much publicized international affair you're no doubt aware of--has become quite adept these past two weeks at tearfully recounting his mistakes while stubbornly standing behind them. At one of his press conferences, he noted that at least he'd "be able to die knowing I had met my soul mate."

But the "soul mate" defense has proven a tricky one. It's wilted a bit under the relentless questioning of reporters, and the inevitable Oprah interview is looming, wherein Sanford will, no doubt, be forced to elaborate on the whole "soul mate" idea. John Donne, the great English poet and preacher who, himself, was not unacquainted with sin, did his best to explain how it works in this excerpt from "The Extasie"--which literally describes the soul's coming out of the body. In the case of Donne's poem, there are two extasies happening at once:

Our hands were firmly cemented
By a fast balm, which thence did spring ;
Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread
Our eyes upon one double string...

As, 'twixt two equal armies, Fate
Suspends uncertain victory,
Our souls--which to advance their state,
Were gone out--hung 'twixt her and me.

And whilst our souls negotiate there,
We like sepulchral statues lay ;
All day, the same our postures were,
And we said nothing, all the day.

Other than the whole eyeballs on strings thing--which is weird--maybe Sanford could steal something from Donne. And he could also use a little help, in this writer's humble opinion, with his romantic email communiques (which have been published). Here are a few choice lines that the governor sent his lover:

You do not need a therapist to help you figure your place in the world.

That sounds like a fortune cookie.

You have a level of sophistication that is so fitting with your beauty.

A little better...

There is something wonderful about listening to country music playing in the cab, air conditioner running, the hum of a huge diesel engine in the background

Oh dear.

I mean, if you're going to ruin your family and career with an affair, shouldn't you at least make it a little spicier? I'd suggest this sonnet by Pablo Neruda ( "Love Sonnet XI" translated by Stephen Tapscott).

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.
I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

Rowr. Now we're talking.

In truth, I feel a little torn picking on Sanford. His mistake is a common one, and the urges behind it are universal. And let's be real here, it's rare for politicians to be as honest as he's been even after they're caught. Now if he just hadn't based his political career on "family values." Ah well. The rest of the Borges poem I quoted earlier, called "Instants," might really help him.

I'll be more relaxed,
I'll be more full - than I am now,
In fact, I'll take fewer things seriously,
I'll be less hygenic,
I'll take more risks,
I'll take more trips,
I'll watch more sunsets,
I'll climb more mountains,
I'll swim more rivers,
I'll go to more places - I've never been,
I'll eat more ice creams and less (lime) beans,
I'll have more real problems - and less imaginary
ones,
I was one of those people who live
prudent and prolific lives -
each minute of his life,
Offcourse that I had moments of joy - but,
if I could go back I'll try to have only good moments,

If you don't know - thats what life is made of,
Don't lose the now!

Don't lose the now! Good advice. Especially when it's all you've got left..

Comments

[liberalviewer]

Hate to disagree with you, but Borges did not write the poem you quoted:
"If I could live again my life,
In the next - I'll try,
- to make more mistakes,
I won't try to be so perfect"
It's completely apocryphal. He didn't write that.

[inc3000]

This guy isn't doing his job. He needs to quit and stop crying like a little girl. (HF I hope you post this comment and not censored like a past few.

[dwillisno1]

Every women I ever lusted after was my soul mate, then! Soul mates don't always stay sole mates.

[GOODREASON]

This is a testimony to not getting married too early. People need to sow some wild seeds before they f--- up another's life (the spouse) with empty promises and lies. He sounds like the teenager he probably never got to be.

[CR46]

How can anyone truly build a loving relationship that is built on deception and lies???

[goodog]

Sanford thinks he shouldn't resign, saying he "finds interesting", the story of King David... the story of a man who had eight wives... not counting his numerous concubines.

http://RaptureAlready.blogspot.com/2009/06/sanford-tried-to-reconcile-his-wife-to.html

The question isn't whether Mark Sanford values family, it's how many families he values.

This is NOT a man who slipped and fell. This is just MORE hypocrisy from the Rapture-panic party arguing that same-sex marriage is dangerous because it could lead down the slippery slope to LEGAL polygamy.

[audiodramatist]

My question is: Did he send flowers with the emails?

Every high school love struck poet knows
you send flowers with the prose

obviously i can not govern and i can not write
so i abandon both for the tan lines i sight

That's the start of a poem, somebody help me out
I barely made it past being a high school lout

[Jenjohnson]

If your soul mate is other than the one you are married to... then be true to yourself and don't live a lie

[ladycubsfan]

The advice I once received was to "lie in the bed that you made..."
Of course, Sanford misunderstands the "lie" part of that saying. Go figure...
Maybe the advice to physicians is in order here..."First, do no harm."
The children are the ones who suffer the most. Any parent worth their salt would strive to make sure the children don't suffer needlessly. Sanford has failed at that, big time. His actions were enough, but then he just keeps talking....

[nah415]

I've also got some poetic advice for Mr. Sanford -- shut up! First your pants, now your mouth. Learn to keep it zipped, Buddy, and your life will be a whole lot easier.

[talis13]

I pity all those he condemned as 2nd class citizens because of their sexual persuasion. His holier than thou attitude isnt gone even as he is the supreme hypocrite. I have no pity for his wife who supported him as a campaign insider. She believes as he does that some Americans dont deserve the same rights as others.
I pity their children for being indoctrinated into the cult of religion thru brainwashing.
And I pity the rest of us who must put up with their hatred couched in Jesus.

[mamacat]

I pity the poor man, but I pity even more his poor wife and children. I can't imagine what this is like for them. At least his wife is a pretty, intelligent, adult, but what about the children? How will this affect them?

[veritas2u]

There once was a man named Mark,
Who foolishly chased a little spark,
He left his state for the love of Maria,
And soon will be forced to say "See Ya".
If only he could have kept it in his pants,
His presidential aspirations may have had a chance.

[marlovian]

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.

[elmerfude]

There are certain people who should never, ever try to write poetry--po­liticians, Republicans, bankers and Louisiana squirrel hunters. They are an embarrassment to poetry and cause real poets to wretch.

[bdaved]

Louisiana squirrel hunters?

[naschkatze]

Poetry can be about anything, but please, not these poems for Mark Stanford. I would suggest Comp. 101 for him.