Sally,

I liked this poem enough when I wrote but then came to dislike it, for
various reasons. So I'm glad that you've found something in it and
appreciate your reflection of what it means to you. I agree with what you've
said here, and then there's the possibility that the father has contributed
to the double tragedy, without him being aware of it. I suppose people often
believe that their experience of life arises from the way the world unfolds
(or "fate" some  say) whilst the operation of themselves upon the world goes
unacknowledged.
BW

Colin


----- Original Message -----
From: "Sally James" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 12:17 AM
Subject: Re: newsub/reckoning


> Hi Colin. Hmm this one had me thinking quite a lot. I thought it a bit
like
> Cain and Able but an accident took a hand in the elder son's death. I
follow
> the poem and get the message of the two sons so opposite. One seeking
higher
> planes both in the mind and in reality and the hint of possible jealosy by
> the younger son "ablaze with strengh" as he dug his brother's grave.The
> absence of the mother and the loneliness of the three men comes across to
me
> too.
> The word and line which confused me was "scarce " looked at Cuilins
crest."
> I didn't know who it was scarce looked at Cuilin's crest whether this was
> the younger or the elder brother. Apart from this minor blip for me I
really
> enjoyed this poem. I like the line "unfeathered as Icarus" This fits in
well
> with the image of the elder son. Sally J
>
> >From: hui dewar <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: newsub/reckoning
> >Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2004 18:14:33 +0100
> >
> >  The reckoning
> >
> >Perhaps he was astounded
> >when the second son wouldn't follow
> >the same road as the first, but smoked
> >from the age of ten and injected at twelve,
> >stashed loot beneath his bed,
> >
> >and yet he never thought
> >why the elder did none of these
> >but heeded his call to high places,
> >scarce looked at Cuillin's crest
> >but sought heaven, as if joy
> >sprang from the barren rock.
> >
> >The old man, widowed as he was
> >from youth and having nothing else left
> >but his army pension must have been proud
> >to see his own young flesh
> >beckoned by sun beyond cloud.
> >
> >That life was odd, with even share
> >of good and bad, he must have thought,
> >that fate took with one hand
> >as it gave with the other,
> >even to the point when solid rock
> >gave way. Unfeathered as Icarus,
> >the watched boy landed in the couloir
> >till blood dripped from his face like rain.
> >
> >He must have been ungrounded
> >with one lost and the other gone on pathless stone
> >and yet he never wondered why
> >the second was ablaze with strength
> >from the day he dug his brother's grave,
> >heaped round shovelfuls of Earth
> >on the rosewood coffin.
> >
> >
> >Colin
>
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