Complaint

Aged Mother, Mary, even though - when that thing Leaped hedge in the dark lane (or grabbed your heel On the attic stair) by smell of man and coarse Canvas he wore was disguised too well-ill A scorching and dizzying blue apparition; - Though that Jack Horner's hedge-scratched pig-splitting arm, Grubbing his get among your lilies, was a comet That plunged through the flowery whorl to your womb-root, And grew a man's face face on its burning head; - Through no prompt thundercrack, no knave's remorse Kneeling in the arch of lightning, fisting his guilt, But the times quiet with God's satisfaction; - Through you swallowed the honey of a parable, No forced fistful of meat-and-potato fact - History's grown gross-bellied, not bright-eyed.

doubt power dark

Complaint - meaning Summary

A Miracle Darkly Revised

The poem addresses Mary and angrily revises the story of Christ's conception. Instead of a clean, radiant miracle, it imagines an intrusive male force, using images of pursuit, bodily violation, and pregnancy. Its complaint is directed at the religious story that turns a troubling physical event into a consoling parable. The final image suggests that history has accepted this version and become morally dull rather than alert.

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