Found depressing poem?

You are lucky that you have a husband capable of writing a poem. Stop trying to undermine him.

Haha poetry is not hard my 8th graders can do it anyone can do it lol I'm not trying to undermine him, i just wanna know that he's ok it's the content that worries me. I believe people write based on their emotions maybe he's using it as an outlet and I just don't want him handling any depression or something on his own, it was shocking to read. But I guess I just have to believe him.

13 years ago my wife got one poem I wrote a couple of months after I met her in a crumpled paper with a candy in the middle out of my hand to hers in a pub under the table. No one noticed...anyways I digress, to the point, your husband might be suffering from homesickness and some cultural clash. Indian people are expected to marry among themselves and according to their social status in arranged marriages. Families sometimes get disappointed when someone decides against tradition. The fact that your husband is sensible enough to write is a good sign but carefully you should investigate indirectly how he feels. Reach out to his cultural background when doing so. Be less "American" and open up to his mindset or he might think you would never understand him and dismiss the all talk.

Oh yes these things are always there. We've already been married over a year his mom and dad are wonderful great so accepting. It helps that I look indian I think haha and I've always been very open to Indian culture we practice Hinduism, I know how to cook the dishes, learning the language, I do everything I possibly can to make him comfortable. I know how their system works, luckily his parents are pretty open minded and believe in love marriages but I can't speak for the rest of his very large family who may not understand. I just hope he would know that I'm very open and understand if he ever needed to talk and I think I've done more than enough to prove that. :/ and I just don't know how to ask indirectly.. he seems so happy here and with our life not only by his actions but his words all show that he is happy that's why this was just weird to find

Here are two of my favourite poems (both sad ones)

If he can write like Christina Rossetti...

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Or (yes!) Rudyard Kipling... (a poem that infallibly makes me cry, that has been called the saddest poem in the English language)... then surely you need to celebrate the talent that you are privileged to be near, or if the talent is small, then the spirit is there...

Written after his beloved daughter died aged 6

Merrow Down

THERE runs a road by Merrow Down -
A grassy track today it is -
An hour out of Guildford Town,
Above the river Wey it is.
Here, when they heard the horse-bells ring
The ancient Britons dressed and rode,
To watch the dark Phoenicians bring
Their goods along the Western Road.
Yes, here, or hereabouts, they met
To hold their racial talks and such -
To barter beads for Whitby jet,
And tin for gay shell torques and such.
But long and long before that time
(When bison used to roam on it)
Did Taffy and her Daddy climb
That Down, and had their home on it.
Then beavers built in Broadstonebrook
And made a swamp where Bramley stands;
And bears from Shere would come and look
For Taffimai where Shamley stands.
The Wey, that Taffy called Wagai,
Was more than six times bigger then;
And all the tribe of Tegumai
They cut a noble figure then !

II

Of all the Tribe of Tegumai
Who cut that figure, none remain, -
On Merrow Down the cuckoos cry -
The silence and the sun remain.
But as the faithful years return
And hearts unwounded sing again,
Comes Taffy dancing through the fern
To lead the Surrey spring again.
Her brows are bound with bracken-fronds,
And golden elf-locks fly above;
Here eyes are bright as diamonds
And bluer than the sky above.
In mocassins and deer-skin cloak,
Unfearing. free, and fair she flits,
And lights her little damp-wood smoke
To show her Daddy where she flits.
For far - oh, very far behind,
So far she cannot call to him,
Comes Tegumai alone to find
The daughter that was all to him !

Interesting that the response you got to this post was a load of old pony about cooking and understanding religion. Writing, both poetry and prose, is a way of coping. Not everybody wants to discuss personal things, a lot of us can compartmentalise stuff, being forced to talk about stuff can be very destructive. People who aren't American don't necessarily want to go the American route of discussing everything about ourselves. The OP can't understand that, and doesn't even seem to want to, but if she carries on with this bollocks she could well drive him away.

And although everyone can write poetry, not many people can write good poetry. If I had a partner who was so dismissive of anything I'd written and demanded we talk about things I wanted to keep quiet I'd be out the bloody door.

I see a "stupid one-way air ticket lol" and a "stupid divorce lol" in your fairly near future, if this is any indication of how you see his poem.

I am imagining ee cummings' first wife... "Crappy punctuation lol", or maybe this one ("A Grave" by Marianne Moore, that captured me aged 16)... "goddam water lol" (Wrong gender, I know, but hey!)

Man looking into the sea,
taking the view from those who have as much right to it as you have to
yourself,
it is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing,
but you cannot stand in the middle of this;
the sea has nothing to give but a well excavated grave.
The firs stand in a procession, each with an emerald turkey-foot at the
top,
reserved as their contours, saying nothing;
repression, however, is not the most obvious characteristic of the sea;
the sea is a collector, quick to return a rapacious look.
There are others besides you who have worn that look--
whose expression is no longer a protest; the fish no longer investigate
them
for their bones have not lasted:
men lower nets, unconscious of the fact that they are desecrating a grave,
and row quickly away--the blades of the oars
moving together like the feet of water-spiders as if there were no such
thing as death.
The wrinkles progress among themselves in a phalanx--beautiful under
networks of foam,
and fade breathlessly while the sea rustles in and out of the seaweed;
the birds swim through the air at top speed, emitting cat-calls as hereto-
fore--
the tortoise-shell scourges about the feet of the cliffs, in motion beneath
them;
and the ocean, under the pulsation of lighthouses and noise of bellbuoys,
advances as usual, looking as if it were not that ocean in which dropped
things are bound to sink--
in which if they turn and twist, it is neither with volition nor
consciousness.

Magic.

Good thing you're not my husband then and good thing he is very understanding. You do not understand the workings of our relationship or my love for him or the entire situation for that matter so think before you bash me or my marriage. Him and I talked and he completely understood why I'd be concerned about the content, it's because I care for him that I was concerned at all.i don't want him to be an unhappy situation that's all if that means we go on more trips so be it if that means we move so be it if he needs to keep writing keep in writing. I'm an English teacher, I understand the need for expression. This poem was just an attempt to write poetry after the show thirteen reasons why as he explained to me haha it was actually a really interesting concept and him and I are great. I feel good knowing he is not fighting anything alone. Which was my main concern not his poetry -_-

Wow "lol" some heavy words for someone who does not know the entire situation. All my husband receives from me is support for anything he does. My concern was based on the content and I just didn't want him going through anything on his own. He completely understood my concerns after we talked about it again, his choice and was flattered to have someone care so much for him. I'm an English teacher I think no writing is ever stupid. I was referring to the stupidity this poem had caused in my mind not the poem, it bothered me the whole day thinking he was going through something so difficult alone. So there's will be no one way tickets or divorced anytime soon thank you I'm so happy I married my loving and understand husband because it doesn't seem like there is anyone like that on this post

I understand perfectly well. You don't because people like you are incapable of seeing things from a non American perspective. I feel really sorry for your husband, you're a control freak who wants to impose your societal norms on someone from a different culture. No wonder the poor bastard feels miserable.

Like I quoted...

I really do feel for the poor bastard. When I was in America, some of them tried to make out I had a problem because I wanted a cup of tea after I'd already had two that day.

And when I was in Mexico I could say stuff to the Mexicans that just shot right over the Americans' heads. When you're always convinced you're right you cut yourself off from what's really going on.

Btw, I never realised being an English teacher made one so incredibly perceptive, I should start demanding people treat me with reverence.

Well, I revere you, Izzy, and I'm quite prepared to get on my knees in front of you.

Like Theresa does to Donald.

Exactly.

I've had to completely change my mindset for this man and see things from a different perspective for him, he knows and appreciates that and I'll always do it for him. In no way do I ever try shoving my American mentality down his throat that's just not who I am. I'm from Mexico anyway, so i understand not coming from a full American background and some struggle he may feel. I think that gives me a little ability to be flexible with perspective. Sorry you had a bad experience in America I don't question my husbands actions or love for what he does, as a matter of fact I join him.

I've never discouraged him in anything, I'm always there supporting and routing for him. When we first met he really admired my love for writing and had told me he was neve rrly allowed to do it in India so I encouraged and encouraged and he writes all the time now. So it's not that I was demeaning his poem or discouraging him I was just concerned over the content -_- for the love of god. I'd never read a poem like that of his and just wanted to know if he was ok or not...to me and to him also I was just caring for him...I don't understand how any of this sounds controlling. Teaching doesn't rly give me any authority but as an educator we all kind of just have a certain kind of mindset. We understand the need for expression, we are compassionate, we are caring, we show humility, and we have the ability to see through many perspectives other than our own, that was my point.....but anyways I rly don't have to explain our relationship over the Internet to a stranger.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful advice. My husband and I are very happy together and I will continue to encourage him in whatever he does and try to be the best I can for him no matter what perspective I have to have or what I have to do to make him happy in his life he's got it

That's not what you said at the beginning. You compared his poem to that of a child, and said anyone could do it and you appeared very irritated at his reluctance to discuss things he wanted to keep private.

You might want to ask yourself why three non American posters took issue with your insistence on American norms if you really have completely changed your mindset.

I had a great time in America, but it was a real eye opener.