I made no record of when this appeared in The New Yorker but it was a while ago. From a scrapbook I came across as I putter and "organize" my blogging room in delicious solitude.
I know there's another blog for this...but I thought I'd share it anyway here. I went to a Quaker wedding yesterday. It was so moving, simple, unpretentious and beautiful that it was almost enough to make one believe in marriage again.
Anyway...I came across this poem. I don't know if Phillip Larkin is or was a Quaker...but here it is:
The Mower, by Philip Larkin, from Collected Poems
The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,Killed. It had been in the long grass. I had seen it before, and even fed it, once. Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world Unmendably. Burial was no help: Next morning I got up and it did not. The first day after a death, the new absence Is always the same; we should be careful of each other, we should be kind While there is still time.
first the koch, then the larkin. such a fine beginning to this post-father's day. and i'm reminded once again that i never fully appreciated either of them until after they died. koch especially. his talent was far larger than it would seem to the casual reader.
Back when I was teaching, I used to tell my students there was homework, sleep, and socializing, and most nights, they could only pick 2 out of the 3, and they had to figure that balance out. Those wacky priorities...
Well, there it is in a nutshell. And I have to work. So what gets cut out? Um....
ReplyDeleteI know there's another blog for this...but I thought I'd share it anyway here.
ReplyDeleteI went to a Quaker wedding yesterday. It was so moving, simple, unpretentious and beautiful that it was almost enough to make one believe in marriage again.
Anyway...I came across this poem. I don't know if Phillip Larkin is or was a Quaker...but here it is:
The Mower, by Philip Larkin, from Collected Poems
The mower stalled, twice;
kneeling, I found A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,Killed.
It had been in the long grass.
I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world Unmendably.
Burial was no help:
Next morning I got up and it did not.
The first day after a death, the new absence Is always the same;
we should be careful of each other,
we should be kind
While there is still time.
first the koch, then the larkin. such a fine beginning to this post-father's day.
ReplyDeleteand i'm reminded once again that i never fully appreciated either of them until after they died. koch especially. his talent was far larger than it would seem to the casual reader.
Yup! Nice piece!
ReplyDeleteBack when I was teaching, I used to tell my students there was homework, sleep, and socializing, and most nights, they could only pick 2 out of the 3, and they had to figure that balance out. Those wacky priorities...