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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
READING THE NAMES OF THE VIETNAM WAR DEAD, by THOMAS MCGRATH Poet's Biography
First Line: For a long day and a night we read the names
Last Line: "thousands of dense black stones fall forever through the darkness under the
Subject(s): Death; Memory; Names; Soldiers; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975; Dead, The
First Line: For a long day and a night we read the names
Last Line: "thousands of dense black stones fall forever through the darkness under the
Subject(s): Death; Memory; Names; Soldiers; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975; Dead, The
For a long day and a night we read the names:
Many thousand brothers fallen in the green and distant land . . .
Sun going south after the autumn equinox.
By night the vast moon: "Moon of the Falling Leaves";
Our voices hoarse in the cold of the first October rains.
And the long winds of the season to carry our words away.
The citizens go on about their business.
By night sleepers condense in the houses grown cloudy with dreams.
By day a few come to hear us and leave, shaking their heads
Or cursing. On Sunday the moral animal prays in his church.
It is Fall; but a host of dark birds flies toward the cold North.
Thousands of dense black stones fall forever through the darkness under the
earth.
Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org
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