Identification In Belfast
Robert Lowell 1917 (Boston) – 1977 (New York City)
(I.R.A. Bombing)
The British Army now carries two rifles,
one with rubber rabbit-pellets for children,
the other's of course for the Provisionals....
'When they first showed me the boy, I thought oh good,
it's not him because he's blonde
I imagine his hair was singed dark by the bomb.
He had nothing on him to identify him,
except this box of joke trick matches;
he liked to have them on him, even at mass.
The police were unhurried and wonderful,
they let me go on trying to strike a match...
I just wouldn't stop you cling to anything
I couldn't believe I couldn't light one match
only joke matches... Then I knew he was Richard.'
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 32 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABACDEFGHIJKJL |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 622 |
Words | 119 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Identification In Belfast" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/56521/identification-in-belfast>.
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