Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DAVID by JAMES HARRISON

Poet Analysis

First Line: HE IS YOUNG. THE FATHER IS DEAD
Last Line: THE FATHER IS DEAD.
Subject(s): DEATH; FATHERS; FUNERALS; MOURNING; DEAD, THE; BURIALS; BEREAVEMENT;

He is young. The father is dead.
Outside, a cold November night,
the mourners' cars are parked upon the lawn;
beneath the porch light three
brothers talk to three sons
and shiver without knowing it.
His mind's all black thickets
and blood; he knows
flesh slips quietly off the bone,
he knows no last looks,
that among the profusion of flowers
the lid is closed to hide
what no one could bear --
that metal rends the flesh,
he knows beneath the white-pointed
creatures, stars,
that in the distant talk of brothers,
the father is dead.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net