INTIMATIONS OF MORTALITY
That Easter holiday when I was nine,
I filled the days of lakeland drizzle
with the contents of the hotel’s bookcase.
I remember one page from a Great War
history. Only the uniform
denoted humanity. What could have
been a face was a smear in sepia
mud. Wars and the aftermath of wars
shaped childhood. In brief sun, we visited
Wordsworth’s schoolroom with its harsh, scrawled desks.
I was fussed to a snapshot. And there I am
scowling at the brightness…
Mary Clark
May 1, 2017This about sums up a 20th Century childhood. For Americans, the two World Wars were followed apace with Korea and Vietnam. The last two were like that photograph, less clear about what it is to be human. Then there was an explosion of music, dance and art, and even poetry.