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DONALD EVANS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: So I shall never hear from his own lips
Last Line: With the consummate silence of a stone.
Alternate Author Name(s): Morgan, Emanuel
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


So I shall never hear from his own lips
That things had gone too ill with him awhile
Nor ever see again, but in eclipse,
The brown precision of his smile.

It does not seem his way at all,
To shoot no firecracker to a friend
But to make the usual interval
Unusual and finite and an end.

It is not hushed, like other deaths, nor grim,
Nor tragic nor heroic news,
But more as if we had not noticed him
Go by on lightly squeaking shoes

And down the coffins of the race
Tiptoe and stumble till he found his own,
Then clear his throat and decorate his face
With the consummate silence of a stone.





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