Elegy for Mother, Still Living
I was formed inside the body
of a woman who wanted me
as she wanted her own life,
allowed to drink the milk
made only for me.
I was given mother-love,
its bounty and its cocoon
of those first years without language.
It is right to mourn the rocky hills
of Crete where we walked, my small
hand in hers for hours. The hidden
beach where we swam naked
then baked on the fine sand. Lazy
afternoons in her lap, her thick
hand stroking my curls.
Her fingers have stiffened.
Her eyes, the eyes of an animal in pain.
I hold my mother
against the woman she is.
About this poem
The Lord gives everything and charges by taking it back. —Jack Gilbert
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Written on 2020
Submitted by Drone232 on April 14, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 29 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABCADEFGHIJAKLMNOP |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 551 |
Words | 115 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 19 |
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"Elegy for Mother, Still Living" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/124843/elegy-for-mother,-still-living>.
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