THE DEAD
The dead are the easiest of subjects
eventually. Their deaths are the most
matter of fact instantly. For, whether
naturally (with a little sigh) or
violently (by nail, rope, then reeling
chair), sent into oblivion, they take
at least two people’s breaths away. Once there –
heaven or nowhere – they may be conjured
and, at first, seem to insist upon it:
his voice, her wit. Soon (a month or a life),
they become tractable and may be shaped
into keepsakes – leaving behind such a
banal desolation.
John Huddart
February 22, 2013And what a profoundly sensible poem about death. At first the way the adverbs hover to deliver the meaning’s coup de grace. Then the eventual coming to the conclusion of death’s ordinary everyday pointlessness. Witty, clever, moving, true.