Poem of the week: The Orange by Wendy Cope
William Sieghart’s poetry pharmacy prescribes the perfect words to help you through your problems. This week: general overload
Sometimes life can seem so ineffably complicated, so full of tumult and drama, that it feels as if we will never be calm again. And then, every now and then, we come upon a moment of peace. The clouds part, the wind dies down; suddenly, we can breathe again – and we discover that the noise and bother were in our heads all along. The world turns out to be quite a simple place, when we approach it in the right frame of mind.
It is exactly this simplicity that Wendy Cope opens out for us, like an orange peeled in a single spiral. Happiness, she suggests, is not majestic, complex or even hard-won. It is straightforward, and can come upon us at any moment. We may be sharing a meal, taking out the bins or walking down a street holding hands, when all of a sudden we are struck by a miraculous thought: "I'm glad I exist."
How strange that this should be a revelation, and yet I defy anyone not to be uplifted by this poem's final line. Of course most people are glad they exist, most of the time. Yet how many of us take the time to really think it, to celebrate our lives even when they are uneventful?
The Orange by Wendy Cope
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange –
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave –
They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It's new.
The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I'm glad I exist.
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