A Slice of Wedding Cake

 A Slice of Wedding Cake

by Robert Graves

Robert Graves (1895-1985) is best known nowadays for his Claudius novels, made into a memorable TV series with Derek Jacobi a s the emperor Claudius and Sian Phillips as a wonderfully blood-chilling Livia.  World War One buffs also know his memoir Goodbye to All That, though none of us have felt quite the same about it since reading Paul Fussell's commentary.  Graves regarded himself primarily as a poet, though.  He worked hard at this craft, developed an elaborate theory of poetic inspiration, and produced many fine pieces, mostly in a reflective key, and mostly about women.

(Listen to the reading)

Why have such scores of lovely, gifted girls
  Married impossible men?
Simple self-sacrifice may be ruled out,
  And missionary endeavour, nine times out of ten.

Repeat "impossible men": not merely rustic,
  Foul-tempered or depraved
(Dramatic foils chosen to show the world
  How well women behave, and always have behaved).

Impossible men: idle, illiterate,
  Self-pitying, dirty, sly,
For whose appearance even in City parks
  Excuses must be made to casual passers-by.

Has God's supply of tolerable husbands
  Fallen, in fact, so low?
Or do I always over-value woman
  At the expense of man?
                                        Do I?
                                                  It might be so.