Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"The City of God" by David Baker is a profound meditation on loss, the search for solace, and the fleeting nature of life. Through a series of vividly depicted scenes and moments, the poem explores the emotional landscape of grief, juxtaposing the natural world with human sorrow and spiritual longing.

The poem opens with a haunting image of kneeling "beside the ruined waters," a metaphor for a moment of loss and the premature ending of potential, indicated by the "bulb-before-bloom" that "unfurled too early." This imagery sets the tone for the exploration of a deep, personal tragedy—the loss of an unborn child, suggested by the phrase "Now we were empty."

As the poem unfolds, the speaker describes a period of mourning marked by a softening of daily life, a shift in how the world is experienced and engaged with "on softer shoes and spoke, not quite with grief." This nuanced expression of grief captures the complexity of mourning, which often defies direct articulation and manifests in altered perceptions and interactions with the world.

The appearance of four deer at the woods' edge introduces a moment of connection with the natural world, offering a brief respite from sorrow. The deer, with their "ears twist like tuners," become a symbol of attentiveness and presence, drawing the speaker and their companion out of their shadows to observe life continuing around them. However, the description of the deer nipping at "the pine bark" and nibbling "some brown tips of hydrangea" also serves as a reminder of the harshness of the world, "a mean, dry winter."

The poem then transitions to a reflection on prayer and the longing for a divine response, a connection that once felt possible but now seems distant. The mention of "the city smell of lilac, fumes from the bus line" during a moment of prayer in a church underscores the intermingling of the sacred and the profane, the spiritual and the physical. This realization that "The joys of the body are not the sins of the soul" marks a profound acceptance of human experience in all its complexity.

The final stanzas return to the motif of loss, as the speaker recalls kneeling "not as in prayer, beside the toilet" during the miscarriage. This heart-wrenching scene, where the hoped-for child "leave[s] us utterly," is juxtaposed with the earlier image of the deer, now described as "fog," emphasizing the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of loss.

"The City of God" concludes with an acceptance of the cyclical nature of existence—"whatever fades"—and the acknowledgment of the "dreadful wake" that follows loss. Despite the sorrow and the absence left behind, the poem suggests a continuity, a persistent movement through grief toward an understanding, however incomplete, of life's impermanence and beauty.

David Baker's "The City of God" is a poignant exploration of grief, the search for meaning in the face of loss, and the ways in which the natural world and moments of spiritual reflection offer glimpses of solace and continuity amidst the pain of existence.

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