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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
EMBLEMS OF EXILE, by THOMAS MCGRATH Poet's Biography First Line: The hunchback in the park with halo of pigeons Last Line: Which the beggarman mind accepts but cannot reconcile Subject(s): Begging & Beggars; Exiles; Hunchbacks; Physical Disabilities; Ugliness; Handicapped; Handicaps; Physically Challenged; Cripples | |||
The hunchback in the park with halo of pigeons Expelled from towers by the bells of noon Is hunting in the gospel of accident the sign Of the time (foretold) When, king of this pageant, All shall wear humps on their backs but none Approach the elegance which fits his own. Through the window of normality the eyes are bold With the emblem of exile on his shoulder. Or examine the beggar in the empty street On whom the hysteria of midnight falls: In the bible of remembrance he rings all bells But the doors are boundaries of his exiled state. A prince of loneliness and drunken brawls He calls the hours of conscience. Morning fills The street with supplicants and he receives Their bribes for silence and for short reprieves. All these are symbols of bereavement, Love: The moon is naked as a shivering harp, The crutch, though it put forth the green branch of hope, The telephone, the letter -- tokens of leave. And if I assume the beggar's or the hunchback's shape It is that I lack your grace which blessed my heart Before the war, before the long exile Which the beggarman mind accepts but cannot reconcile. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SWITCH-HITTERS by MICHAEL BLUMENTHAL THE CITY OF THE OLESHA FRUIT by NORMAN DUBIE STUMPFOOT ON 42ND STREET by LOUIS SIMPSON HOW STUMP STOOD IN THE WATER by DAVID WAGONER THE CRIPPLED GIRL, THE ROSE by DAVID FERRY THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY by LINDA GREGERSON HUNCHBACK GIRL: SHE THINKS OF HEAVEN by GWENDOLYN BROOKS ODE FOR THE AMERICAN DEAD IN ASIA by THOMAS MCGRATH |
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