Feature Poem: Trust by D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence's poem reminds us, much like Raymond Carver's 'Happiness', that the best life has to offer us can be found just here, in just being. In true Lawrencian style, he dismisses 'chatter' and the "narrow little/ bargaining" that occurs when people try to discuss their 'feelings' and instead pleads a case for connecting with one another at a level beyond words, "oh be/ a sun to me". Not only is the image of the sun a warm, life-affirming one, it is also constant: even in the darkness of night, the sun is still shining; even in difficult times, the true trust between people - the unspoken, entwining trust - will continue to shine.

Trust

Oh we've got to trust
one another again
in some essentials.

Not the narrow little
bargaining trust
that says: I'm for you
if you'll be for me. -

But a bigger trust,
a trust of the sun
that does not bother
about moth and rust,
and we see it shining
in one another.

Oh don't you trust me,
don't burden me
with your life and affairs; don't
thrust me
into your cares.

But I think you may trust
the sun in me
that glows with just
as much glow as you see
in me, and no more.

But if it warms
your heart's quick core
why then trust it, it forms
one faithfulness more.

And be, oh be
a sun to me,
not a weary, insistent
personality

but a sun that shines
and goes dark, but shines
again and entwines
with the sunshine in me

till we both of us
are more glorious
and more sunny.

D. H. Lawrence, 1885 - 1930