Poem of the Day: Pity

2 / 21 / 2015

Poem of the Day: Pity BY CAMILLE T. DUNGY Christ bore what suffering he could and died    a young man, but you waited years to learn    how to heal.   Only when you could did you    touch the man whose body blistered for yours.    You posted him no news for sixteen terms,    then just a signed graduation notice.    The letter he wrote that week asked only,    Now that your books are closed, can boys come in?    At your wedding, you buried the woman    you thought you knew inside a stranger's name.    This is how you found yourself: thirty-three,    nursing a son. Soon there was another.    Your mind had already begun to walk.    But you were a mother.   Those cribs held you. Camille Dungy, "Pity" from What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison Copyright 2006 by Camille Dungy. Reprinted by permission of Red Hen Press. Source: What to Eat What to Drink What to Leave for Poison (Red Hen Press, 2006) CAMILLE T. DUNGY Biography  More poems by this author