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Howard Nemerov - I Only Am Escaped Alone To Tell Thee
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I tell you that I see her still 
At the dark entrance of the hall. 
One gas lamp burning near her shoulder 
Shone also from her other side 
Where hung the long inaccurate glass 
Whose pictures were as troubled water. 
An immense shadow had its hand 
Between us on the floor, and seemed 
To hump the knuckles nervously, 
A giant crab readying to walk, 
Or a blanket moving in its sleep. 


You will remember, with a smile 
Instructed by movies to reminisce, 
How strict her corsets must have been, 
How the huge arrangements of her hair 
Would certainly betray the least 
Impassionate displacement there. 
It was no rig for dallying, 
And maybe only marriage could 
Derange that queenly scaffolding— 
As when a great ship, coming home, 
Coasts in the harbor, dropping sail 
And loosing all the tackle that had laced 
Her in the long lanes .... 
I know 
We need not draw this figure out. 
But all that whalebone came from whales. 
And all the whales lived in the sea, 
In calm beneath the troubled glass, 
Until the needle drew their blood. 


I see her standing in the hall, 
Where the mirror’s lashed to blood and foam, 
And the black flukes of agony 
Beat at the air till the light blows out.
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