To Redouté
To Redouté - meaning Summary
Ephemeral Beauty and Loss
The poem meditates on botanical beauty and decay, using rose and morning-glory images to link visual art with mortality. The speaker fragments identity into parts, names elements, and claims I am a sieve
, suggesting a porous self that collects and loses impressions. Light, petals, and the cough of the finishing petal
signal fading life and memory. Persistent grief and the effort to sustain magenta make this a reflection on transience and perception.
To true roses uplifted on the bilious tide of evening And morning-glories dotting the crescent day The oval shape responds: My first is a haunting face In the hanging-down hair. My second is water: I am a sieve. My only new thing: The penalty of light forever Over the heads of those who were there And back into the night, the cough of the finishing petal. Once approved the magenta must continue But the bark island sees Into the light: It grieves for what it gives: Tears that streak the dusty firmament.
from The Tennis Court Oath (1962)
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