|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE WOMEN WITH FABLED HAIR, by MADELINE DEFREES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the life to come I unravel and let down Last Line: Dense longing. Alternate Author Name(s): Mary Gilbert, Sister; De Frees, Madeline Variant Title(s): The Woman With Fabled Hair Subject(s): Hair; Longing | |||
In the life to come I unravel and let down the extravagant bolt of hair, the braids of a saint caught in silk all the days I remember. Cut free of the tin box the future crown is always mine. Repeated shocks of auburn, shades of my mother's upswept hair when she ran away with the man who would fade to my father. I am waiting for him to come again, the simple man in elaborate disguise, wearing his bones like a prophet. When enough time has been lost, her hair will fall to my shoulder. Dense folds released from the veil, this past woman's glory recovered brings back the forgotten blend, lilac and amber, cypress and plum. The man will look into my eyes when I come for the girl in the glass, the one to be lifted down from the wall where she hangs in the white dress, the too-short curls. "We have plenty of time," taking the girl's right hand. "We have from now on," stroking the nails she tried to press down, kissing them. He won't mind that her teeth are set far apart, believing that passionate sign. Don't be afraid, and the brain in its time carries her over the doorstep, engraved words to a bride. These forevers that keep disappearing, bureau drawers of a life that threatens to move us out. The body meets the animal it ran from: dark bush parted in the night, wet fur, the cave lighted by the eyes of lynx, my own dense longing. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ABOARD! ABOARD! by DONALD JUSTICE CHANEL NO. 5 by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR UNABLE TO FIND by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR WE WHO WERE EXECUTED by FAIZ AHMED FAIZ SHE WRITES TO THE MAN WHO WRITES OF HER IN HIS POEMS by LINDA GREGG IMAGINARY ANCESTORS: THE GIRAFFE WOMAN OF BURMA by MADELINE DEFREES KEEPING UP WITH THE SIGNS by MADELINE DEFREES MARIA CALLAS, THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LEGEND* by MADELINE DEFREES |
| |