Departure, Desired
Douglas Blair 1951 (London)
He had a good meal
Mid afternoon
Sunday.
Eight of family present.
Excepting Stewart away
At Vancouver
Master’s studies.
Pop had read to all
Psalm 121.
Mostly from memory.
Voice strained.
Hardly audible.
Gram gone these
Past five years.
Pop pursued his novels
And crosswords.
Staying sharp until
Eyes failed with macular.
This quietened him.
Like some different man.
He wanted to go.
Had told Doc Bradley
As much.
Eighty-nine years.
No meds for the last ten days.
No severe pains.
Only an insistent stupour.
All parties adjourned
To Den.
Pop wheeled upstairs
Smiling at each in turn.
Crisp bedsheets ready.
Elder daughter gave the kiss.
Gone with grace.
Six twenty.
Nothing more said.
Bruce the mortician
Already knew.
(Note. I am reading a novel by prize winning Portuguese author Jose Saramago. What if all the people of an un-named country woke up New Year’s Day. And could not die? Would just stay as they were. A sort of quirky eternal life. Good development or bad? Title Death at Intervals.)
Font size:
Written on January 11, 2023
Submitted by dougb.72572 on January 11, 2023
Modified by dougb.72572 on January 12, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 21 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XXAXABCXXDXXCEFXXBXXXDXEXXBXXXXDXXDXXX F |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,003 |
Words | 199 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 38, 1 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Departure, Desired" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/148528/departure,-desired>.
Discuss the poem Departure, Desired with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In