Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN MEMORIAM, by GEORGE ADDISON SCARBROUGH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN MEMORIAM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I am no longer / available for speaking


When I am no longer
Available for speaking
The myth of myself,
Let tall men of small girth
Step forth in the service
To speak words of mine:
Book, poem, and paper,
Word of mouth not excluded:
Demonstrating my fluency
In the days of my living,
In the hours of my loving:
How my voice outran
The paging of wind,
The summons of sun,
Raged on with the river,
Tireless in expenditure,
Heedless in economy,
Unknown to reduction,
Despising frugality
Of syllables only,
Not to be wanting
In cup or cupboard:
In short, at ease
With easy redundance,
Those lovely refrains
Of poems and litanies,
Meting out metaphor
Like honey on bread
From the hand of a mother,
A sister, or cousin,
Or laudable companion
Of other persuasion,
But never to lend
A note of soprano
To the muffle of drum,
Or the gruffness of trombone,
Or the sob of cello:
Part and counter-Part
of memoriam
In referent male
Militia of death.
This is my wish,
Last will, and testament:
When I am no longer
Available for speaking
The sum of myself,
My meaning made clear,
Let the voices of strong
Men lowly declare
In basses and tenors
My reason for being
In words of their choosing
And perhaps a line
Or two from verses
Saying how good it was
To have been a man.


http://www.wlu.edu/~shenano






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