Last Meeting Poem by Gwen Harwood

Last Meeting

Rating: 3.0


Shadows grazing eastward melt
from their vast sun-driven flocks
into consubstantial dusk.
A snow wind flosses the bleak rocks,

strips from the gums their rags of bark,
and spins the coil of winter tight
round our last meeting as we walk
the littoral zone of day and night,

light's turncoat margin: rocks and trees
dissolve in nightfall-eddying waters;
tumbling whorls of cloud disclose
the cold eyes of the sea-god's daughters.

We tread the wrack of grass that once
a silver-bearded congregation
whispered about our foolish love.
Your voice in calm annunciation

from the dry eminence of thought
rings with astringent melancholy:
'Could hope recall, or wish prolong
the vanished violence of folly?

Minute by minute summer died;
time's horny skeletons have built
this reef on which our love lies wrecked.
Our hearts drown in their cardinal guilt.'

The world, said Ludwig Wittgenstein,
is everything that is the case.
- The warmth of human lips and thighs;
the lifeless cold of outer space;

this windy darkness; Scorpio
above, a watercourse of light;
the piercing absence of one face
withdrawn for ever from my sight.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Paul Warren 21 June 2015

A good description of life as a parent. Thank you.

2 5 Reply
Nims-sunshine Princess 16 June 2012

wonderful! ! And touching...

2 3 Reply
Kirti Sharma 15 June 2014

beautiful.. i like the first stanza..

2 2 Reply

Great work and nice collection

2 2 Reply
Josephine Collett 15 June 2012

Beautiful evocative poem from the well repected and well known Australian poet Gwen Harwood, from Brisbane, my home town.

2 1 Reply
Jye 01 December 2021

What a lovely poem! It touched my heart with all of the lyrics. R.I.P Gwen, you were amazing

0 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 31 July 2020

this windy darkness; Scorpio above, a watercourse of light; the piercing absence of one face withdrawn for ever from my sight. very good poem

1 0 Reply
Emmma 23 July 2020

Hello this poem is a great poem I showed my kids lol

0 0 Reply
Mahtab Bangalee 27 May 2020

Minute by minute summer died; time's skeletons have built this reef on which our love lies wrecked. Our hearts drown in their cardinal guilt.'..........excellent poetic writings...great

0 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 04 February 2020

light's turncoat margin: rocks and trees dissolve in nightfall-eddying waters; tumbling whorls of cloud disclose the cold eyes of the sea-god's daughters. a very fine poem. tony

0 0 Reply
READ THIS POEM IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Gwen Harwood

Gwen Harwood

Taringa, Queensland
Close
Error Success