Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PROMISES ARE FOR LIARS by JAMES GALVIN

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: BECAUSE, YOU KNOW
Last Line: To defend

Because, you know,
Either you're going
To do it or
You're not.
Slight as light
Reflected from the stream
Onto the wavering
Willow leaves,
Eternal love
Doesn't need
Eternity, see?
A cyclone of sand-
Hill cranes
Rises from the corn
Slathering the
Ephemeral work.
Let's don't worry.
Let's don't ask.
Our institutions
Are standing by.
But I keep thinking
How easy it is
To get lost in the sky
With nothing holy
To defend.




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