BY DR. AGONSON
Lament and weep with me, mothers, they’re gone.
My little ones I dearly loved are gone,
and I, dread wretch, murdered my infant son
and precious daughter there where rivers run.
O brilliant day, why curst me with thy light?
Why give the wicked clarity of sight?
For on the seemly dew thy morning rays
livened my darkness of bitter malaise.
How this foul heart corrupts all that is good:
There all night long I by the window stood.
When glorious light revealed to me the morn,
it was a darkness in me that was born.
Were they not mine alone, my body sole,
and if it were not I, none would control.
I’d let no one deliver them from me,
for they were mine, and mine only would be.
Before he came to take those two away,
the three of us went by the brook to play.
O mother, weep!
……………………………….My wails are just begun.
O mothers, weep!
……………………………….Her wails revile the sun.
This is so well done, with the rhyming verses and darkness spilling out of the pages.
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Thank you.
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Heart wrenching. As I read, I couldn’t help but think of the families separated at the U.S. border – the agony that those parents must feel.
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I love seeing how an artist’s work can get away from him. I honestly had no thought of the immigration crisis while writing this. However, I had something in mind, abortion. It mainly shows in the banshee’s logic mirroring that of the pro-choice advocate: “My body.” I am curios what made you think of the crisis at the border. Also, have you seen the new film, Gosnell?
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It was the description of the anguish of losing children. Haven’t seen the movie
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Thanks. Liked your poem too, by the way, or was about to. Give me a second.
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The pain of the mother is so well expressed… yes I can understand the wailing.
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Thank you,
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Nice line: “Why give the wicked clarity of sight?”
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Thank you.
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It’s like an old ballad. They knew about bleeding, and sorrow. (K)
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I heard echoes of the scene in Macbeth when Macduff discovers his wife and children are dead. Tragic.
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This is so heart wrenching! I can really hear the voice in this one.
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Thank you.
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It’s a lot easier to fall into the devil’s hands when one doesn’t believe (he) exists.
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