Modern Sonnet 212. A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Rape, of a Child in Delhi. Or the Death of Another Group of Children Mown Down in a School in America.
after Dylan Thomas's "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of A Child in London."
Refuse to mourn? You did though, didn’t you?
Your Elegy of innocence and youth.
You got your poem, did that thing you do,
That pose wherein the pose becomes the truth.
We often do this. Poets. If we can.
For who denies that tragedy inspires?
And should. We should write where we feel that . . . pain?
That stops us, moves us. Much that I admire
Came grief-hewn from a real event. Such verse
That helps the less articulate to see.
Or tries to. Works to. Poetry has use,
When obvious, and simple sympathy
Is all that seems on offer. But, some days
We wait till we have something more to say.
Andrew Barker
21 май 2022
