To Die Before One Wakes Must be Glad
Alice Walker 1944 (Eatonton)
to die before one
wakes
must be glad
(to the same extent
maybe
that it is also
sad)
a slipping away
in glee
unobserved and
free
in the wide—
area felt spatially,
heart intact.
to die before one
wakes
must be joyous
full swing glorious
(rebellion)
(victory)
unremarked triumph
love letters untorn
foetal fears
unborn
monsters given
berth
(love unseen, guiltily,
as creation)
(life “good”)
to die before one
wakes
must be a dance
(perhaps a jig)
and visual-
skipping tunes of
color
across smirking
eyelids
happy bluely …
thought running gaily
out and out.
to die before one
wakes
must be
nice
(green little passions
red dying
into ice
spinningly
(like a circus)
the blurred landscape
of the runner’s
hurried
mile)
one’s lips curving
sweetly
in one’s most subtle smile.
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Submitted by ChloeHills on April 22, 2020
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 85 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABcxdxc xdxdx ex ABffadx axxaxeax ABx xexxgxedx ABdhxghefxxxegde |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 788 |
Words | 131 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 5, 2, 7, 8, 3, 9, 16 |
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"To Die Before One Wakes Must be Glad" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/53246/to-die-before-one-wakes-must-be-glad>.
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