A poem by Stan Raines
Did he say to me
before he called
“Do you want to come?”
There was peace I had sought
Away from the ruck and fervor
OF loving sisters
Always the service and fetching
The ointments in my distress,
So soothing at the touch,
The meals and pampering
But also
The distress of living
The stench all cry against
The bickering cries of houses divided
And who shall serve
and who shall wait—
and whence comes the plenty
They so rightly, they say,
await
Back to the shock of light
from the comfort
of dark swaddling
and there the secret
connection to all that is
The blessings are what
have been given
Not the things to come,
I say. Let me back
to my corner.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Patricia A // Aug 5, 2008 at 8:03 pm
This poem brought to mind Edwin A. Robinson’s Lazarus .
I’ve yet to come across a poem where Lazarus is glad to have been brought back.
There is just something fascinating and eerie about the story of someone made privy to the ultimate curiousity.
2 Stan // Aug 6, 2008 at 9:36 am
Thanks for the connection to Robinson’s poem. I hadn’t read it till now.
In my presumption when I wrote the initial lines for this (in the middle of a memorial service), it didn’t occur to me that L’s predicament had captured more imaginations than my own, but it’s such a unique situation, I’m surprised there aren’t 10,000 poems. A google on the name gets mostly Emma Lazarus and her Collosus poem.
Thanks for commenting. I always appreciate your thoughts.
-stan
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