Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OFFERING, by THOMAS MCGRATH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OFFERING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, you must have been
Last Line: "ah . . . Dearest father, dear
Subject(s): Boats; Fathers; Men


Father, you must have been,
Like now --
On a tiny raft while the big ship went down.

You had taken our mother aboard
While the decks were still awash.
Then, for a little time, it must have seemed almost like heaven --
Though you've never said that
In words.
Nor has she but I saw it
In both your eyes when you thought
We were not watching.

Heaven, then.
Even on the dark and shoreless waters.
Other rafts went down. Around you cries
Went up --
agonies --
Sharks clouding and clotting in the sea --
Heaven.

Then our mother began
Presenting us to you:
One, every couple of years,
Was conjured out of the gypsy tent of her black skirts.
And you fed us:
Fishing all night in the hungry waters,
Giving your clothing to warm us,
And you naked, shivering in the cold,
enduring --
Why didn't you drown us like a litter of sick cats?
But . . . didn't.
You gave your freedom for our mother's fulfillment.
And you gave us
All the lost honey of a young man's years --
Steering through the vicious seas of those bitter times . . .
Ah . . . dearest father, dear
Helmsman!


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




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