DARLINGTON: We Little Know You will Die….
Last month's poem of the month writer, Freda Davis, has chosen this month's poem. She says," I relate to the poem, having lost a child myself long ago. Also I felt it was good to call a child Darlington. It’s a sweet name, even if you have lived there as I did for a year." Find out more about Clarius Ugwuoha and his work at http://www.writeoutloud.net/poets/clariusugwuoha DARLINGTON: We Little Know You will Die…. That harmattan morning you were born Swarthed up as you were In the cocoon of childhood The sun shining The wind blowing We little know you will die so soon And leave us to mourn You lay calm upon your infant snug That flash of innocent smile was there Your fist clenched, now and then, Kicked to and fro, darlington... You were full of life and warmth Coarse and rugged like the igneous rock You grew stout amidst Storms of illnesses Lived by your rules Owned up our crimes That father beats no one... Darlington so full of life You left us so soon In a deluge of grief. Mum is shocked, Father is in grief. Come back today, Do you hear - Darlington! Come back today That mother may cry no more!
<Deleted User>
Mon 10th Sep 2007 09:28
I like this a lot. The stanza arrangement is lovely, allowing the poem to flow ceasellessly. The narration gives the poem its universiality allowing the arguement to remain understated.
Yes, the theme of loss of something precious, is inescapable and though Freda's empathy with the theme is a factor (the main?), I do feel that reading a poem should not require an 'understanding'. With the greatest respect to Freda and other readers, to chose a poem one 'relates' to diminishes that work by excluding all those readers who do not sdhare the expereience.
Whilst any topic can make a poem, including personal experience, then the poem, once in the public domain, should be there for everyone and not those who empathise with the poet.
One poerm, for example, that I find morally reprehensible, is 'Daddy' by Silvia Plath. That she uses the Holocaust to measure her own relationship with her fther is, for me, disgraceful. But 'Daddy' is one of the greatest poems ever written. It goes without saying that the form is so well adhered to and yet, no matter my objections, the theme is a universal one of human relations.
In that sense, irrespective of the theme of 'DARLINGTON: We Little Know You will Die….', this is a really wonderful poem. Both in form and its language use.