Dorothea Lasky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lasky
Promising myself I would not do this again
Is what kept me going
A friend told me to
And I listened
Taking a thing to the end of its life
Is what I was made to do
I think I am not attuned
To the things that breathe
Well that’s not true
I am in tune to breath and life
And little falls of flowers
When the moon was high
I went out to the stream
And brought in the water
For my folks, my kin, my brethren
I brought in the greenish milk
To feed the ones who were already dying
Oh did they go
Oh I do not know
This poem originally appeared in the April 2014 Edition of Poetry Magazine.
Analysis:
When I read the poem, The End, I immediately knew that the central idea of the poem was the idea of being with someone or something until their death, and watching them die. Near the beginning of the poem, the narrator says: "Taking a thing to the end of it's life is what I was made to do." The author uses this connection to say that it is her duty or job to be with people until their untimely demise. Also, near the end of the poem, the narrator says: "I brought in the greenish milk to feed the ones who were already dying." The author brings together with this line, as I believe the readers are able to make the connection between a nurse or a doctor to the narrator. This is because that when people are on the verge of dying, many nurses and doctors use feeding tubes to feed the patients, as they are not strong enough to do it themselves. Overall, to me, this poem makes a relationship to current day medical clinics, where doctors constantly are with patients who die on them by using literary devices and common similarities.
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