Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ACCUSATION, by HELEN PETKANICH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ACCUSATION, by                    
First Line: And so - you are afraid of death!
Last Line: The palm fronds starched with surprise.
Subject(s): Funerals; Burials


And so -- you are afraid of death!
You who flaunted your banners of unbelief
So bravely!
Who were quick to scorn with the quickest,
And laugh at the twistings of other men's minds.

When I speak of the caskets and wreaths,
And the heavy smell of the flowers,
And the spray on the outside wall,
You shudder, and scream with your stillness;
And your soul stands wide-eyed in fright.

Strange to touch the warm flesh of my face
And know the other lies dead in the night,
Smothered in the satin ruffles of her coffin --
To move my body in the warm groove of the bed,
And remember she sleeps her first night underground --

She, who loved the quicksilver of life so dearly
And fought so long against its loss,
To let it pour reluctantly through her fingers
In hopelessness --
The earth must weigh heavily
This first night in her grave.

Life is a procession of caskets
Winding slowly to the gray dumping ground of eternity.
Life is a door on which hangs
A never-fading funeral wreath,
The palm fronds starched with surprise.





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