The Evening Of The Mind Poem by Donald Justice

The Evening Of The Mind

Rating: 4.6


Now comes the evening of the mind.
Here are the fireflies twitching in the blood;
Here is the shadow moving down the page
Where you sit reading by the garden wall.
Now the dwarf peach trees, nailed to their trellises,
Shudder and droop. Your know their voices now,
Faintly the martyred peaches crying out
Your name, the name nobody knows but you.
It is the aura and the coming on.
It is the thing descending, circling, here.
And now it puts a claw out and you take it.
Thankfully in your lap you take it, so.

You said you would not go away again,
You did not want to go away -- and yet,
It is as if you stood out on the dock
Watching a little boat drift out
Beyond the sawgrass shallows, the dead fish ...
And you were in it, skimming past old snags,
Beyond, beyond, under a brazen sky
As soundless as a gong before it's struck --
Suspended how? -- and now they strike it, now
The ether dream of five-years-old repeats, repeats,
And you must wake again to your own blood
And empty spaces in the throat.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Susan Williams 03 November 2015

There are deep dark shadows lurking behind every line he writes- I wonder if he ever gets peace from its relentless presence in his mind.

34 1 Reply
Bernard F. Asuncion 18 September 2017

Such a great poem worthy of reading......

1 6 Reply
Lantz Pierre 18 September 2017

Justice was a poet of great technical ability. In this poem his dissection of a state of mind to lay it bare upon the page in the nuances of words is crafted with an incredibly delicate skill. The images resonate through a muted pallet with sparks of bright intensity; a weary inevitably illuminated by a woven line of hope and earnest since of progress. There is nourishment and there is decay. The poem surely speaks to many issues, diverse ideas, at once. It resonates deeply with ties to the deeply philosophical poetry of Wallace Stevens will also sharing much in common with Edward Hopper's elusively psychological paintings. This poem rings out with modernist subjectivity while simultaneously being ringed in by a classical representational style. It demonstrates real accomplishment in all that it brings to bear.

0 6 Reply
Milly 23 April 2018

Yawn.... this is about him, not you.

1 0
Monty Cantsin 30 June 2005

This beauty is as quiet as a shadow.

1 3 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 18 September 2017

Watching a little boat drift out! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

0 0 Reply
Sabita Sahoo 18 September 2017

Nicely written poem. Congrats for being chosen.

0 0 Reply
D Priyanka Singh 18 September 2017

Nicely penned poem with lots of imagery. Thanks poet for the sharing and being chosen a congratulation.

1 0 Reply
Seema Sharma Rimi 18 September 2017

A nicely penned poem with great imagery. Thanks poet. Congrats.

2 0 Reply
Sanjukta Sahoo 18 September 2017

A great poem full of some beautiful imagery and nice lines. Love it.

3 0 Reply
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