Robert Graves

Nude Tea

Selected Poems

Symptoms of Love

By Robert Graves

Love is a universal migraine;

A bright stain on the vision

Blotting out reason.

Symptoms of true love

Are leanness, jealousy,

Laggard dawns;

Are omens and nightmares ~

Listening for a knock,

Waiting for a sign;

For a touch of her fingers

In a darkened room,

For a searching look.

Take courage, lover!

Could you endure such grief

At any hand but hers?

Robert Graves

Following his marriage and the end of the First World War, Robert Graves belatedly took up his place at St John's College, Oxford. He later attempted to make a living by running a small shop, but the business soon failed. In 1926 he took up a post at Cairo University, accompanied by his wife, their children, and the poet Laura Riding. Robert Graves returned to London briefly, where he split up with his wife under highly emotional circumstances (at one point Laura Riding attempted suicide) before leaving to live with Laura Riding in Deià, Majorca.

More About Robert Graves at Wikipedia