Analysis of The Corpse Delivers the Eulogy
When I was twelve, I would have said something like
“I’m afraid to die” or “I haven’t danced” or kissed
Or had sex or drank whiskey or fallen in love.
But they would have all meant the same.
When I was eighteen, I would have read religious poetry,
Telling you not to weep, that I have a bigger, happier,
Golden-bricked home on the other side of death.
An untested faith, thick in my throat with hope.
At twenty-five, I would have lied and told you
I’m not afraid to die; I would have proclaimed
It like a medal pinned to my chest, a badge
On a chain around my neck, false gold.
When forty hung on me, loose, worn, like a coat from Goodwill,
You could have seen the shaking bones and heard
The gentle rattling of my frame, no matter what I told you.
Because my beliefs and my words were at war.
Now fifty-four, almost fifty-five, I would say again,
“I’m not afraid to die,” but not because I have finally danced,
Or kissed, or had sex, or drank whiskey, or fallen in love—
Although I have done all those things.
I would sit in this casket, upright, less wise than I knew myself
At eighteen, or twenty-five, or even forty, smart enough
To have learned how little I actually know about the great veil
Of black beyond the poet’s “little sleep.”
All that I have believed has changed, has transformed much like
Zeus as he chased his lusts across the women of the earth;
I have loved belief like each mother of a demi-god was loved,
Each tweak of thought birthing new strength on the passing of the old.
The new gods I believe in are thus: watch your shadows for they
Will reveal the truths you hide, love covers all multitudes of sins,
Mind your own damn business, dig dig dig to find the depths
Of what you already believe, but just don’t know yet.
And if I remain to visit you again at a later funeral, if my return
To this casket allows me to say more, I will say this—I hope:
“I don’t know if I am afraid to die or not. My religion will have
Cocooned and flown again, so don’t ask me what I believe.
I haven’t lived that far enough yet.”
Scheme | AXBX XXXC DXXE XXDX XXBX XXXX AXXE XXXF XCXXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111101 10111111111 111111011001 11111101 111011111010100 101111111010100 10111010111 10101101111 11011111011 11011111101 11010111101 101011111 11011111101111 1111010101 010101111101111 01101011011 1101110111101 1101111101111001 11111111011001 1111111 111011001111111 101110111010101 1111101100101011 1101010101 1111011110111 11111101010101 1110111101010111 111110111010101 01110101111111 101011111011011 1111101111101 1110100111111 0110111010110101001101 1110011111111111 111111011111101011 1010111111101 11111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,099 |
Words | 424 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 174 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
About this poem
Things I'd love to say at my funeral one day.
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Written on December 05, 2023
Submitted by seanhtaylor on December 05, 2023
Modified by seanhtaylor on December 05, 2023
- 2:07 min read
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"The Corpse Delivers the Eulogy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/174942/the-corpse-delivers-the-eulogy>.
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