A Response to Thoedore Roethke's "Prayer"
My poetic reply to Theodore Roethke's "Prayer" attempts to infuse my understanding of Roethke's words with my personal attitude about the poem's theme, which I interpreted rather literally as an aging man's request to retain sight. While composing this poem, I considered other works by the author particularly "Epidermal Macabre" in which Roethke expresses intense feelings of disgust for the physical body.
Prayer
If I must of my Senses lose,
I pray Thee, Lord, that I may choose
Which of the Five I shall retain
Before Oblivion clouds the brain.
My Tongue is generations dead,
My Nose defiles a comely Head;
For hearkening to carnal evils
My Ears have been the very devil's.
And some have held the Eye to be
The instrument of lechery,
More furtive than the Hand in low
And vicious venery--Not so!
Its rape is gentle, never more
Violent than a metaphor.
In truth, the Eye's the abettor of
The holiest platonic love:
Lip, Breast and Thigh cannot possess
So singular a blessedness.
Therefore, O Lord, let me preserve
The Sense that does so fitly serve,
Take Tongue and Ear--all else I have--
Let Light attend me to the grave!
Sense of Time
By April Minerd
Given a choice of merely one
Sense to serve my numbered days. None
Other than Touch would be enough.
Perhaps Sight indeed might see another through,
But if I may, I'd request a humbled hand--
Neither vile nor vicious in my command.
Grant me, O Lord, this singular condition
That I might forget this languished face. Aggravation, Aggravation!
Locks of Gray now shadow these ears
Parodying sound from since past years.
Take the noise that interrupts present thought.
Leave instead a caress, an embrace, a faculty sought.
Age came swift, introducing a wrinkly Nose--
Grandmother's trait I'd deliberately dispose.
Smell now dull and dank from exhausted time
And this Tongue amiss pronouncing my rhyme:
What bitter words it chooses to announce.
So, remove it with the others I denounce...
Leave me to my memories and a stroke atop this weary head,
As I draw nearer a final resting bed.
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