Featured Poem 8/26 – “The Elephant is Slow to Mate”
The Elephant is Slow to Mate by D. H. Lawrence
The elephant, the huge old beast,
is slow to mate;
he finds a female, they show no haste
they waitfor the sympathy in their vast shy hearts
slowly, slowly to rouse
as they loiter along the river-beds
and drink and browseand dash in panic through the brake
of forest with the herd,
and sleep in massive silence, and wake
together, without a word.So slowly the great hot elephant hearts
grow full of desire,
and the great beasts mate in secret at last,
hiding their fire.Oldest they are and the wisest of beasts
so they know at last
how to wait for the loneliest of feasts
for the full repast.They do not snatch, they do not tear;
their massive blood
moves as the moon-tides, near, more near
till they touch in flood.
This poem was really surprising to me. I didn’t actually expect it to get around to talking about it, but that really helps highlight an element of the poem that makes it super nice. It’s like singing the word ‘breathe’ really breathy. It shows what it is talking about literally rather than just telling us about it.