A Song Poem by Joseph Brodsky

A Song

Rating: 4.1

I wish you were here, dear,
I wish you were here.
I wish you sat on the sofa
and I sat near.
The handkerchief could be yours,
the tear could be mine, chin-bound.
Though it could be, of course,
the other way around.

I wish you were here, dear,
I wish you were here.
I wish we were in my car
and you'd shift the gear.
We'd find ourselves elsewhere,
on an unknown shore.
Or else we'd repair
to where we've been before.

I wish you were here, dear,
I wish you were here.
I wish I knew no astronomy
when stars appear,
when the moon skims the water
that sighs and shifts in its slumber.
I wish it were still a quarter
to dial your number.

I wish you were here, dear,
in this hemisphere,
as I sit on the porch
sipping a beer.
It's evening, the sun is setting;
boys shout and gulls are crying.
What's the point of forgetting
if it's followed by dying?

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Chaotic Life - Curly M. 09 March 2008

awww...thats really sweet

18 5 Reply
Enoch John 18 June 2008

I'm sorry I didn't meet this great poet but anyway I like this song.Thankfully his work lives on.

13 3 Reply
Anil Kumar Panda 10 December 2013

very nice.nice style and flow.

10 2 Reply
Edgar Stevens 10 December 2014

one nice poem i should read occasionally..

4 2 Reply
Wojciech D Kolesnik 16 September 2020

Very nice....almost sounds like a song.

0 0 Reply
Sandra Dreis 20 April 2020

The last line is profound and hit me like a low tree branch. I have been mourning the death of my dear mother to Alzheimers. How she suffered because she couldn't remember so many event, people in her long life. And her forgetting hurt me too. Now I see memory in a different light altogether. Why torture ourselves? Death puts it all in perspective. We all can life in the present until we are no longer present, right?

1 0 Reply
Carla Sarett 25 March 2021

Sandra, how interesting to find your comment here on a poem I love. His question, what's the point of forgetting...one I grapple with, we all do.

0 0
Sylvia Frances Chan 12 November 2019

I wish you were here, dear, I wish you were here. I wish you sat on the sofa and I sat near. The handkerchief could be yours, the tear could be mine, chin-bound..............so sweetest and so saddest. This poem touched my heart and soul

1 0 Reply
Chinedu Dike 20 September 2019

Lovely and very passionate poem. Very heartfelt with strong emotions................

1 0 Reply
Ruta Mohapatra 22 September 2018

' It's evening, the sun is setting; boys shout and gulls are crying. What's the point of forgetting if it's followed by dying? '.......Very expressive lines! Sad and touching!

2 1 Reply
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