Condolence

Dorothy Parker 1893 (Long Branch) – 1967 (New York City)



They hurried here, as soon as you had died,
Their faces damp with haste and sympathy,
And pressed my hand in theirs, and smoothed my knee,
And clicked their tongues, and watched me, mournful-eyed.
Gently they told me of that Other Side-
How, even then, you waited there for me,
And what ecstatic meeting ours would be.
Moved by the lovely tale, they broke, and cried.

And when I smiled, they told me I was brave,
And they rejoiced that I was comforted,
And left to tell of all the help they gave.
But I had smiled to think how you, the dead,
So curiously preoccupied and grave,
Would laugh, could you have heard the things they said.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 29, 2023

36 sec read
114

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBA CXCDCD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 628
Words 120
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6

Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. more…

All Dorothy Parker poems | Dorothy Parker Books

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