To Die Before One Wakes Must be Glad



to die before one
wakes
must be glad
(to the same extent
 maybe
 that it is also
 sad)

a slipping away
in glee
unobserved and
free
in the wide—
 
area felt spatially,
heart intact.
 
to die before one
wakes
must be joyous
full swing glorious
(rebellion)
(victory)
unremarked triumph
 
love letters untorn
foetal fears
unborn
monsters given
berth
(love unseen, guiltily,
as creation)
(life “good”)
 
to die before one
wakes
must be a dance
 
(perhaps a jig)
and visual-
skipping tunes of
color
across smirking
eyelids
happy bluely
thought running gaily
out and out.
 
to die before one
wakes
must be
nice
(green little passions
red dying
into ice
spinningly
(like a circus)
the blurred landscape
of the runner’s
hurried
mile)
one’s lips curving
sweetly
in one’s most subtle smile.
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Submitted by ChloeHills on April 22, 2020

Modified on May 02, 2023

39 sec read
85

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABcxdxc xdxdx ex ABffadx axxaxeax ABx xexxgxedx ABdhxghefxxxegde
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 788
Words 131
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 7, 5, 2, 7, 8, 3, 9, 16

Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, self-claimed womanist, and activist. She wrote the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple for which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. more…

All Alice Walker poems | Alice Walker Books

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