Grief’s Exile

Grief’s Exile
That is the title of a little book I’m reading, Published in 1939 by my father’s Uncle Archie, A tragedy in four acts written in classic language When he was twenty-six. It was not revised, “To know,” as he confided in a prefatory note, “The effect of slight labor in its spontaneous form.” Thou ministers of hell, away! depart! And let me bear this misery alone. So said the Hermit when he was shaken From sleep by young Jasper walking in the forest, Who found him in the grip of fearful dreams. Jasper is the son of Gershom, a wealthy landowner. He does not know the poor suffering Hermit Is his father’s brother, the good Lucian, But he is deeply stirred by the Hermit’s plight. I will read the rest tonight. Until then, I will give thanks for this great-uncle, Who wrote and painted all his life To express his outrage, anger, and delight, Eloquent confessions without shame or guilt. Thus was his example, defiant, proud, and free. And when I showed him my first poetry, Written by hand on sheets of lined paper when I was fifteen, he told me I should type them, To see the words in a different, better light. He was right, but the poems have not survived, Though I remember parts of them now, As one remembers distant peaks obscured by clouds, Or a homeless man walking in shadowed gloom Through the street as if it were an abandoned room, Alone and in despair, a ghost apart, Grief’s Exile. *June 9, 2005* Previous Entry Next Entry Return to Songs and Letters About the Author	Also by William Michaelian POETRY Winter Poems ISBN: 978-0-9796599-0-4 52 pages. Paper. —————————— Another Song I Know ISBN: 978-0-9796599-1-1 80 pages. Paper. —————————— Cosmopsis Books San Francisco Signed copies available Main Page Author’s Note Background Notebook A Listening Thing Among the Living No Time to Cut My Hair One Hand Clapping Songs and Letters Collected Poems Early Short Stories Armenian Translations Cosmopsis Print Editions Interviews News and Reviews Highly Recommended Let’s Eat Favorite Books & Authors Useless Information Conversation E-mail & Parting Thoughts Flippantly Answered Questions
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