A MERE two hundred years ago he spoke,
He arguing with me – I can hear him croak
Still, at my side :”…. You are animated clay,
Dead for all time, alive just for one day! . . . .”
So he droned on and I, as vehement,
Cried, “No, I’ll prove that’s nonsense “
My dissent
Went throbbing up through him and from his lips
Became one sombre smile at my eclipse,
While I stood silent.
Then again I said:
“I’ve always lived I Are we forever dead
From the mere fact of dying? Then we die
Always – so we live always ! I reply “
He scoffed. I answered: “How you talk of it.
Death – do you know what death is? – Hypocrite 1
How can you tell save from experience?
So you have died, I think, already! . . . .”
Whence
A brief two centuries have been betrayed:
You made that gesture, so I which he then made
Who mocked me
Then in anger I caught up
His pistol from the table, and his cup,
His ruddy cup of crystal dark with wine,
Tipped over and he cursed, while I drank mine;
I cried: “I’ll prove you wrong! See, I can die. . . .”
And I watched that bird swoop fluttering from the sky;
And those dark boughs above us moved and stirred;
There came that little puff of wind I heard
That very sound of someone singing – There !
Wait, you can hear it! … .
I said to him: “Take care:
Til prove I’m right!”
I held his pistol still;
Indeed his scorn was barely audible;
He swore, “Death makes you nothing 1” I said : “Hold !
I’ll prove I’m right!”
I felt the muzzle cold
Against my brow. He jeered; I saw him frown;
Then red with death the black world flung me down;
Away from me it fell, and roared, and crashed.
And all through those two hundred years I flashed:
And I am here
You are confronting me
Still, and his wine is trickling down your knee;
And you assert:
“You are animated clay,
Dead for all time, alive just for one day! . . . .”
You swear: “Death makes you nothing!”
You repeat
His folly, most maliciously, to cheat
Me of existence! – Here’s his pistol – now
Use it.
You held it cold against your brow.
I speak aloud here in this empty room
To you : I cannot see you In your tomb
This day I saw your coffin I recall
That pistol shot and as I watched you fall,
Your blood came gushing up
I have gone out,
Gone out into the night And still you flout
Me with your folly! Some one spoke; and I
Turned; he sat down
And fluttering from the sky
A bird swooped and those boughs above us stirred:
There came that little puff of wind I heard
That very sound of someone singing – There I
Wait, you can hear it! … .
And then that someone spoke:
He sits here opposite me; I hear him croak
While he drones on: “You are animated clay,
Dead for all time, alive just for one day! ….
Death makes you nothing! . . . .”
And far off again
I hear the voice of someone singing
Rain
Chills the long sinuous ridge of distant hills,
And, as two hundred years ago, it fills
The dark world and my vague dark life with peace,
Here while I pause … I who can never cease. . .
(E J Rupert Atkinson)
More Poetry from E J Rupert Atkinson:
E J Rupert Atkinson Poems based on Topics: Night, Death & Dying, Time, Cry, Wine, War & Peace, Stupidity, Anger, Birds, Experience, Hypocrisy- In The Realm Of Night (E J Rupert Atkinson Poems)
- The King Of Sardis (E J Rupert Atkinson Poems)
- Omar Dead (E J Rupert Atkinson Poems)
- A Vikings Death (E J Rupert Atkinson Poems)
- Promethean (E J Rupert Atkinson Poems)
- Egyptian Lyrics (E J Rupert Atkinson Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Night Poems, Time Poems, Death & Dying Poems, War & Peace Poems, Cry Poems, Birds Poems, Anger Poems, Wine Poems, Stupidity Poems, Betrayal Poems, Experience PoemsBased on Keywords: vehement, droned, dissent, swooped, maliciously