e.e. cummings · USA · 1952
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it''s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that''s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)“i carry your heart with me(i carry it in…”
I carry your heart inside my own heart — I''m never separated from it. Wherever I go, you come with me. Everything I do alone, you''re part of it too.
“here is the deepest secret nobody knows…”
I''m not afraid of anything — because you are my fate. I don''t need any other world — you are my entire world. You are what the moon has always symbolized, and what the sun has always represented.
“i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)”
Here is the secret no one else knows: love like this is the very root of existence. It''s deeper than the soul can reach, beyond what the mind can contain. It''s the force that holds the universe in its shape.
Why this poem matters
cummings' lowercase style and unusual punctuation were deeply intentional — he believed breaking grammatical rules freed language. This poem is read at thousands of weddings every year.