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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ABOVE AND WITHIN, by DAVID IGNATOW Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: In the distance a phalanx of black clouds
Last Line: Above and within.
Subject(s): Clouds; Night; Bedtime
First Line: In the distance a phalanx of black clouds
Last Line: Above and within.
Subject(s): Clouds; Night; Bedtime
In the distance a phalanx of black clouds
descending upon the spot I sit in and read.
Overhead the sky lit with the last rays
of the day. I look down on my book,
for a moment, it seems. When I look up
again, the phalanx has not moved,
but above me the sky has darkened,
of itself perhaps, with the earth's revolution
away from sun.
Where I had seen a semblance of light
now stands darkness, nearly as absolute
as in the distance, and it has come upon me,
as it were, from behind my back. I feel overtaken,
caught between two pitiless forces.
I have one recourse left:
to bow my head and let the night reign
above and within.
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