Endings by Derek Walcott
Endings
Derek WalcottThings do not explode,
they fail, they fade,as sunlight fades from the flesh,
as the foam drains quick in the sand,even love’s lightning flash
has no thunderous end,it dies with the sound
of flowers fading like the fleshfrom sweating pumice stone,
everything shapes thistill we are left
with the silence that surrounds Beethoven’s head.
MARGINALIA
Good night, Derek Walcott, sir. Thank you for your poems. Rest easy now.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Collected Poems 1948-1984 by Derek Walcott by Derek Walcott, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1986. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT DEREK WALCOTT
Born on the island of Saint Lucia, a former British colony in the West Indies, poet and playwright Derek Walcott was trained as a painter but turned to writing as a young man. He published his first poem in the local newspaper at the age of 14. Five years later, he borrowed $200 to print his first collection, 25 Poems, which he distributed on street corners. Walcott’s major breakthrough came with the collection In a Green Night: Poems 1948-1960 (1962), a book which celebrates the… (more)
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ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: endings • silence • self love • Or browse the index
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