Monday 6 May 2013

The Last Song



Ask me those questions
I have heard over and over
And let me think again     
Of what to say

Go on and laugh out loud
At my childish confusion
And let me sigh again
From self-pity

Turn all the way round
Yes. Exactly, just like that
And let me look again
At what I missed

The early bird sings a different song
This morning
The lone bat has overslept
And
The night languishes away without him

I waste away where I sit
My pet dog
Licks greedily at my wounds

Vampires lurk in corners
Their eyes planted on the vein
That runs down my neck
As its fevered rhythm
Slows

Hyenas salivate over
The tell-tale smell of carrion-
Their long-awaited
Corpse

Now in the silence of darkness
A tired voice sings
In bitter-sweet notes
The Last Song –
A dirge to welcome
Sweet
Sweet 
Death

5 comments:

  1. Hannah, is 'death' the persona's last hope? if so, what a gloomy and shrouded hope it is! i believe hope is invariably positive so that what is negative finds itself beyond its confines...And, even though there is some sweetness in death(the probable handiwork of hope for people who crave for it), i think this kind of hope a drawing on the sands of the coastline, washed away by the angry waves of the purpled main(the sea)

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  2. The image of hope written in the sands at the shore, where obviously the waves will come wipe away, is a sign of the persona's very last hope being swept away.
    This poem, I choose to call bitter-sweet because I was in that state when I wrote it.
    I imagined one on her sick bed, very much aware death is near, but not afraid of it.
    Death, especially for a good Christian, is a good thing.
    The persona has suffered on this physical earth and even his deteriorating state is amusing to some others, however he points out to them that although hope of living a fair life is gone, he welcomes death which will end all his pain. It is a saddening path to joy but the end is most important here...'joy'.

    Thanks for stopping by ;-)

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  3. I believe there's a deeper meaning to this poem (not only about a dying person). I've read through it several times, but I'm still not sure what the deeper meaning is. Anyway, my guess is, it is about mother Africa. please, if I'm wrong, correct and enlighten me. Its a great piece.

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  4. Lol, as if you don't know already.

    That's why i chose to perform it with that song. ;-)

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