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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE HAMMOCK, by LI-YOUNG LEE Poet's Biography First Line: When I lay my head in my mother's lap Subject(s): Children; Mothers; Childhood | |||
When I lay my head in my mother's lap I think how day hides the stars, the way I lay hidden once, waiting inside my mother's laughter. And I remember how she carried me on her back between home and kindergarten, once each morning and once each afternoon. I don't know what my mother's thinking. When my son lays his head in my lap, I worry His lips, swollen with his father's kisses, won't keep his father's worries from becoming his. I think, Dear God, and remember there are stars we haven't heard from yet they have so far to arrive. Amen, I think, and I feel almost comforted. I've no idea what my child is thinking. Between two unknowns, I live my life. And what's it like? Between my mother's hopes, older than I by coming before me, and my child's wishes, older than I by outliving me, what's it like? Is it a door, and a good-bye on either side? Is it a window, and eternity on either side? Yes, yes and a little singing between two great rests. First published in The Kenyon Review, Volume 22, #1, Winter 2000. www.kenyonreview.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE THE CAMBODIAN BOX by KAREN SWENSON |
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