02-01-2026, 11:29 PM
"Being, of all, least sought for: Emily, hear!"
I used that line in one of the poems I sent to Emily Browning back then. But I wrote "most sought".
However, I also wrote this in the letter that went with the poems: "Emily, I have a confession to make. I really am a horse doctor. But marry me, and I'll never look at any other horse."
I typed the letter on yellow paper in the style of Lemony Snicket. And I later wrote some more poems to her while making the waiter at the Lyric Diner in New York pour me free refills of tea all night since I had nowhere to stay. I had a copy of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet on the table so people would figure I was strange but harmless.
I also used this poem as source material for some of the poems:
Time’s Dedication
by Delmore Schwartz
My heart beating, my blood running,
The light brimming,
My mind moving, the ground turning,
My eyes blinking, the air flowing,
The clock’s quick-ticking,
Time moving, time dying,
Time perpetually perishing!
Time is farewell! Time is farewell!
Abide with me: do not go away,
But not as the dead who do not walk,
And not as a statue in the park,
And not as the rock which meets the wave,
But quit the dance from which is flowing
Wishes and turns, gestures and voices,
Angry desire and fallen tomorrow,
Quit the dance from which is flowing
Your blood and beauty: stand still with me.
We cannot stand still: time is dying,
We are dying: Time is farewell!
Stay then, stay! Wait now for me,
Deliberately, with care and circumspection,
Deliberately
Stop,
When we are in step, running together,
Our pace equal, our motion one,
Then we will be well, parallel and equal,
Running together down the macadam road,
Walking together,
Controlling our pace before we get old,
Walking together on the receding road,
Like Chaplin and his orphan sister,
Moving together through time to all good.
I used that line in one of the poems I sent to Emily Browning back then. But I wrote "most sought".
However, I also wrote this in the letter that went with the poems: "Emily, I have a confession to make. I really am a horse doctor. But marry me, and I'll never look at any other horse."
I typed the letter on yellow paper in the style of Lemony Snicket. And I later wrote some more poems to her while making the waiter at the Lyric Diner in New York pour me free refills of tea all night since I had nowhere to stay. I had a copy of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet on the table so people would figure I was strange but harmless.
I also used this poem as source material for some of the poems:
Time’s Dedication
by Delmore Schwartz
My heart beating, my blood running,
The light brimming,
My mind moving, the ground turning,
My eyes blinking, the air flowing,
The clock’s quick-ticking,
Time moving, time dying,
Time perpetually perishing!
Time is farewell! Time is farewell!
Abide with me: do not go away,
But not as the dead who do not walk,
And not as a statue in the park,
And not as the rock which meets the wave,
But quit the dance from which is flowing
Wishes and turns, gestures and voices,
Angry desire and fallen tomorrow,
Quit the dance from which is flowing
Your blood and beauty: stand still with me.
We cannot stand still: time is dying,
We are dying: Time is farewell!
Stay then, stay! Wait now for me,
Deliberately, with care and circumspection,
Deliberately
Stop,
When we are in step, running together,
Our pace equal, our motion one,
Then we will be well, parallel and equal,
Running together down the macadam road,
Walking together,
Controlling our pace before we get old,
Walking together on the receding road,
Like Chaplin and his orphan sister,
Moving together through time to all good.