The mind may sort it out and give it names–
When a man dies he dies trying to say without slurring
The abruptly decaying sounds. It is true
That only flesh dies, and spirit flowers without stop
For men, cows, dung, for all dead things; and it is good, yes–
But an incarnation is in particular flesh
And the dust that is swirled into a shape
And crumbles and is swirled again had but one shape
That was this man. When he is dead the grass
Heals what he has suffered, but he remains dead,
And the few who loved him know this until they die.
how about next time having the entire poem instead of just the last two stanzas, it kind of defeats the purpose of the poem. that is an absolutley outstanding poem and you arent doing it justice by not including the beginning. its such a disguised elegy and no one would know it by only having read those last two stanzas. it is just a real disappointment and i thought you should know
Sorry to disappoint, but this commonplace book is a place for pieces of works that I particularly like, not outright copyright violations (at least when I can help myself
and if someone is interested they are encouraged to seek out the full versions (it’s not as if Kinnell is difficult to find)…
I very rarely post full poems. I take it as a given that full poems (and novels, songs, lyrics, stories, etc) will be more powerful in their full form…
c