Housman on Clinton: A Lover, Not a Fighter
by DCDave

"Ms. Lewinsky told confidants of the emotional underpinnings of the relationship as it evolved. According to her mother, Marcia Lewis, the president once told Ms. Lewinsky that she ‘had been hurt a lot or something by different men and that he would be her friend or he would help her, not hurt her.' According to Ms. Lewinsky's friend Neysa Erbland, President Clinton once confided in Ms. Lewinsky that he was uncertain whether he would remain married after he left the White House. He said, in essence, ‘Who knows what will happen four years from now when I am out of office?' Ms. Lewinsky thought, according to Ms. Erbland, that ‘maybe she will be his wife.'" --Starr Report

Some lads there are, ‘tis shame to say,
        That only court to thieve,
And once they bear the bloom away
        ‘Tis little enough they leave.
Then keep your heart for men like me
        And safe from trustless chaps.
My love is true and all for you.
        ‘Perhaps, young man, perhaps.'

A. E. Housman, "A Shropshire Lad," Poem V, verse 4

"Ms. Lewinsky testified that she and the president ‘enjoyed talking to each other and being with each other.' In her recollection, ‘We would tell jokes. We would talk about our childhoods. Talk about current events. I was always giving him my stupid ideas about what I thought should be done in the administration or different views of things.'...

"Along with face-to-face (sic) meetings, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she spoke on the telephone with the president approximately 50 times, often after 10 p.m. and sometimes well after midnight. The president placed the calls himself or, during working hours, had his secretary, Betty Currie, do so; Ms. Lewinsky could not telephone him directly, though she sometimes reached him through Ms. Currie. Ms. Lewinsky testified: ‘We spent hours on the phone talking.' Their telephone conversations were ‘similar to what we discussed in person, just how we were doing. A lot of discussions about my job, when I was trying to come back to the White House and then once I decided to move to New York. ...We talked about everything under the sun.'" --Starr Report

Delight it is in youth and May
        To see the morn arise,
And more delight to look all day
        A lover in the eyes.
Oh maiden, let your distaff be,
And pace the flowery meads with me,
        And I will tell you lies.

‘Tis blithe to see the sunshine fail,
        And hear the land grow still,
And listen till the nightingale
        Is heard beneath the hill.
Oh follow me where she is flown
Into the leafy woods alone,
        And I will work you ill.

--A.E. Housman, "More Poems," XVIII

David Martin, September 15, 1998

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