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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BARE FEET, by KAREN SWENSON Poet's Biography First Line: The vulnerable, bare feet of old men Last Line: Is bearable but filling it brings tears. Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Daughters; Hospitals; Poetry & Poets; Dead, The | |||
The vulnerable, bare feet of old men protrude from sheets on trolleys in white halls - my father's long since buried to bone; now this elder poet's uncalloused as his soul. I offer daisies or a perfumed rose to hold his eye against the hospital's blank walls of terror, then leave into August's sun sticky, thick as a white pull of taffy. I don't mourn death, but what my father's rage and blame could never give which this man yields abundantly. Gifts simple as a daisy's eye, a breath of rose, are replied to with a "Thank you," a kiss on hand or cheek, as at the far end of life's long corridor he exits, blowing kisses. Emptiness is bearable but filling it brings tears. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND |
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