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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SANTA MARIA DEI FRARI, by CLARENCE MAJOR Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: You are late for your train
First Line: You are late for your train
You are late for your train.
You linger anyway.
You know a Titian is there.
You looked, Madonna of the Pesaro Family.
You touched St. Peter and his great book.
You behold Madonna on her throne
formally receiving a kneeling
high military official: St. George and his soldiers.
The glitter of the swords catches your eye.
The Turkish prisoner is not happy.
Do you know the young woman
with big bright eyes? A member
of the Pesaro family. Half-hidden
by the figure of St. Francis,
bluntly in the foreground
you watch her gaze
around the saint out directly at you,
making you self-conscious. Leaving
Frari, you wander back
across Venice. You take a boat
over to St. George's. Inside,
Tintoretto's Last Supper.
You -- an uninvited guest --
grab its energy
as it races away in the distance
like a night train
you yourself are already on,
coming straight back
into yourself.
Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org
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