Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MATTER by LOUIS UNTERMEYER

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN I WAS A LIVE MAN
Last Line: THAN IT IS TO ME.
Subject(s): DEATH; DESPAIR; DEAD, THE;
When I was a live man,
A few years ago,
For all I might say,
For all I could do,

I got no attention;
My life was so small
The world didn't know
I was living at all.

Such stolid indifference
I couldn't allow;
I swore that I'd matter,
Never mind how.

But after a lifetime
Of failure and prayer,
I broke my heart trying
To make the world care.

And now as I lie here,
Feeding this tree,
I am more to the world
Than it is to me.



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