"Mother and Son"

Click here to listen to Mark Strand read this poem.

The son enters the mother's room
and stands by the bed where the mother lies.
The son believes that she wants to tell him
what he longs to hear—that he is her boy,
always her boy. The son leans down to kiss
the mother's lips, but her lips are cold.
The burial of feelings has begun. The son
touches the mother's hands one last time,
then turns and sees the moon's full face.
An ashen light falls across the floor.
If the moon could speak, what would it say?
If the moon could speak, it would say nothing.

PRINTE-MAILRECOMMEND...RSS

FacebookMySpace Mixx Digg Reddit del.icio.us Furl Ma.gnolia SphereStumbleUponCLOSE

SPONSORED CONTENT

• Marianne Moore's "Poetry"
  Why did she keep revising it?
  Robert Pinsky | June 30, 2009
• The Slate Poetry Podcast
  Your favorite poets read their work to you.
  June 30, 2009
• "The Fate of Pleasure"*
  A weekly poem, read by the author.
  Peg Boyers | June 23, 2009
• Search for more Poems articles
• Subscribe to the Poems RSS feed
• View our complete Poems archive