Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DELAY, by ELIZABETH JENNINGS Poem Explanation Poet Analysis First Line: The radiance of that star leans on me Last Line: And love arrived may find us somewhere else Subject(s): Love; Patience; Stars; Time | ||||||||
I am too long away from home. These sudden ends of time and space Are uncanny, and make me afraid. The bronze bushes, thickening Under a haze of yellow leaves, Are not beautiful to me, Nor the empty rooms, nor what the river sees Dimly in the fog. It is my own Absent self I mourn. The precious windows of my Mind I left behind are darkened now; How many others like me will go forth On the roads, become separated, And return to the city of their birth Not knowing what has changed? We will be strangers To each other, forgetting names and faces. Is this what I have feared? The time will be short, and the reckoning sweet, When those that cling to time and place are lost. Then we will find ourselves, our true selves In some way or other, and will mourn the cost Only of delay, of the long delay. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEVEN EYES: FINAL SECTION by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: COME OCTOBER by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: HOME by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: TIME IS FILLED by LYN HEJINIAN SLOWLY: I FREQUENTLY SLOWLY WISH by LYN HEJINIAN ALL THE DIFFICULT HOURS AND MINUTES by JANE HIRSHFIELD A DAY IS VAST by JANE HIRSHFIELD FROM THIS HEIGHT by TONY HOAGLAND NOTHING WILL CURE THE SICK LION BUT TO EAT AN APE' by MARIANNE MOORE |
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