Our Sunday morning when dawn-priests were applying
Wafer and wine to the human wound, we laid
Ourselves to cure ourselves down: I’m afriad
Our vestments wanted, but Francis’ friends were crying
In the nave of pines, sun-satisfied, and flying
Subtle as angels about the barricade
Boughs made over us, deep in a bed half made
Needle-soft, half the sea of our simultaneous dying.
‘Death is the mother of beauty.’ Awry no leaf
Shivering with delight, we die to be well..
Careless with sleepy love, so long unloving.
What if our convalescence must be bried
As we are, the matin meet the passing bell?..
About our pines our sister, wind, is moving.
(John Berryman)
More Poetry from John Berryman:
John Berryman Poems based on Topics: Love, Friendship, Death & Dying, Beauty, Mothers, Sisters- The Ball Poem (John Berryman Poems)
- Dream Song 73: Karensui, Ryoan-ji (John Berryman Poems)
- Dream Song 96: Under the table, no. That last was stunning (John Berryman Poems)
- Dream Song 77: Seedy Henry rose up shy (John Berryman Poems)
- Dream Song 115: Her properties, like her of course & frisky & new (John Berryman Poems)
- Dream Song 113: or Amy Vladeck or Riva Freifeld (John Berryman Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Friendship Poems, Beauty Poems, Mothers Poems, Sisters PoemsBased on Keywords: barricade, unloving, wafer, applying, simultaneous, convalescence, afriad
- The Song Of Hiawatha XII: The Son Of The Evening Star (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poems)
- Afternoon At A Parsonage (Jean Ingelow Poems)
- Poems - Written On The Deaths Of Three Lovely Children (Jean Ingelow Poems)
- The Passion Of Dido For Aeneas (John Denham Poems)
- The Pastoral, Or Lyric Muse Of Scotland. Canto First (Hector MacNeill Poems)