Reverie Sur La Riviere De Harlem. (Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

The poet is asking some questions to an imaginary listener about going down alone to the Harlem River at midnight and later, to think about his mother, who is long deceased, and his sweetheart, who has let him down. In fact the questions are things that the poet himself has done.He is alone and feeling sad, by the Harlem River late at night, so much so that he wishes he could die, but he does not commit suicide because who would miss him if he was gone? Maybe nobody. This poem can be compared to Hughes' 'Suicide Note', and Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 66'- a poet on the verge of suicide and a man who has already taken his life by drowning. To me, not morbid, and this 'Reverie' is top-drawer quality.