A Gathering of Poetry: June 2025

It's the third Thursday of the month so I'd like to welcome you to A Gathering of Poetry. Today I made sure I didn't forget about A Gathering of Poetry like I did last month, and this month Billy Collins came to my rescue. 

I had a lime tree that died and I recently bought a new one. It's outside and growing well and I recently caught myself thinking, "I just love this little lime tree." A few days ago I was washing my hands with a bar of Ivory soap and found myself thinking, "I really love the smell of this soap." Thankfully, Billy Collins had already written a poem about these moments.  

Aimless Love
by Billy Collins

This morning as I walked along the lake shore,
I fell in love with a wren
and later in the day with a mouse
the cat had dropped under the dining room table.

In the shadows of an autumn evening,
I fell for a seamstress
still at her machine in the tailor’s window,
and later for a bowl of broth,
steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.

This is the best kind of love, I thought,
without recompense, without gifts,
or unkind words, without suspicion,
or silence on the telephone.

The love of the chestnut,
the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.

No lust, no slam of the door—
the love of the miniature orange tree,
the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
the highway that cuts across Florida.

No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor—
just a twinge every now and then

for the wren who had built her nest
on a low branch overhanging the water
and for the dead mouse,
still dressed in its light brown suit.

But my heart is always propped up
in a field on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.

After I carried the mouse by the tail
to a pile of leaves in the woods,
I found myself standing at the bathroom sink
gazing down affectionately at the soap,

so patient and soluble,
so at home in its pale green soap dish.
I could feel myself falling again
as I felt its turning in my wet hands
and caught the scent of lavender and stone.

 

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"Aimless Love". Collins, Billy. Nine Horses: Pan Macmillan and Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003.

You can read more about the poet here and here. 

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