Poetry Essay, Research Paper

Line 1 The man saw his wife leaving. She was finally giving up on their marriage and their life together. The loss of their child was to much for her. They couldn t communicate so she was gone. She was about to leave but had second thoughts. Line 5 The man wanted to know why they were so different. He wanted to know why she must leave him. He wanted to know how different things looked from her perspective. Line 10 He again asked her what she saw. He wanted her to tell him why he was no longer good enough. What had driven them apart? He wanted to know what she was staring at outside the window. Line 15 She didn t want him to see her true feelings. She turned away so that maybe he wouldn t be able to see what was there. She said he couldn t possibly. She didn t want him to see that the reason she so often stopped to gaze out the window was that directly below was their child s grave. Line 20 He said that he had never noticed it there before. He must have just gotten used to it. There are the graves of his relatives in the graveyard. He never realized that you could see not only all the others, but their child s grave. They should not have put the grave in this place. Line 25 He said the entire graveyard wasn t much bigger than a bedroom. It was just a bunch of stones. It wasn t however the stones she was looking at. It was the mound of dirt covering her child. Line 30 She ran downstairs. She didn t want him to talk about it. Line 35 He wants to know why he can t talk of his child. She says he can t. She needs to get out. She needs to get away. Line 40 He says that he is not going to come down the stairs. He needs to talk about it. She doesn t want him to. Line 45 He is always offending her. He doesn t know how to please her. He wants to be taught to talk about things. It isn t his fault that he doesn t openly talk about these things. Men of this time period were taught to hid their feelings. Line 50 Women have it easy. They can talk about anything that comes out of their mouth. Men can talk about these things. Especially with the one that he loves. Line 55 She moves to leave. He tries to stop her by telling her not to talk to someone else this time. They are in this together.

She should talk to him about it. Line 60 He wants a chance. He says he will listen to her, he just needs a chance to try. He says that sometimes she gets carried away. Line 65 She can t believe that he said some of those things. She thinks he is sneering. He says he isn t and wants to know what is so wrong about talking about their child. Line 70 She says he can t feel. He couldn t possibly have feelings. She watched from the window as he dug a grave for their son. He did it with almost no emotion. How could he not feel? Line 75 You were making the dirt fly up almost as if it was a game. You were throwing it around. This was the dirt that would cover their sun. Line 80 He kept digging. Then she herd his voice in the kitchen so she went to see what he was doing. She had to see for her own eyes that her husband was that compassionless. You just sat there with the stains from his grave on his shoes. Line 85 With this dirt on your shoes you sat there and talked about everyday things. You just went on with your life as if nothing had happened. Line 90 You were talking about the weather and how the birch would be rotten with the rain. You wouldn t be able to build your fence. How could you talk about something like that at a time like this? Line 95 How long does it take birch to rot. You shouldn t care at a time like this. How could you be concerned about something so trivial at a time like this. Line 100 From the time you re sick to the time you die, you die alone. Friends come to the grave but their thoughts are preoccupied. Line 105 The world is evil and it can t be changed. The man then says that she must feel better. She has gotten it out of her system. She must be better now. She is crying she must shut the door and stay. Line 110 Your heart has been poured out. Forget it. There is someone coming. She can t believe that he would care that someone was coming. She had to get away from there. She couldn t believe these things. Line 115 If she leaves he will do whatever he can to bring her back. They have suffered this terrible loss and only the man realizes this.