This week I have been reading Sophie Hannah's Selected Poems. The following poem, which can be found on the poet's website, I like to read out loud. Although it seems to me that I don't I really 'get' the poem yet, I love its metre and sound patterns very much.
The Good Loser - Sophie Hannah
I have portrayed temptation as amusing.
Now he can either waver or abstain.
His is a superior kind of losing
And mine is an inferior brand of gain.
His sacrifice, his self-imposed restriction
Will get through this controversy intact
For his is a superior kind of fiction
And mine is an inferior brand of fact.
I have displayed my most attractive feature
And he his least, yet still the match seems odd
For I am a superior kind of creature
And he is an inferior brand of god
And if he cuts me off without a warning
His is the book from which I’ll take a leaf
For his is a superior kind of mourning
And ours a most inferior brand of grief.
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