Out of his fear of fish and fin
Man builds a box to set him in
Another box of strongest steel
Against the moisture of the field.
But we who die while not on land
Are buried by a quieter plan,
For quicker is the soul set free
By fish than ever is the sea.
[Undated poem by Virginia McKinnon Mann.]
The feeling of this poem reminds me of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), and other poets of that time period. I wonder if she may have been trying to write in that style. I've pasted below a Coleridge poem for comparison.
ReplyDeleteDesire
BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
Where true Love burns Desire is Love’s pure flame;
It is the reflex of our earthly frame,
That takes its meaning from the nobler part,
And but translates the language of the heart.