Poetry, week 14

AN ECHO

by Robert Pack

VOICE:                                                               ECHO:

How from emptiness can I make a start?                   START

And starting must I master joy or grief?                     GRIEF

But is there consolation in the heart?                          ART

Or cold reprieve, where’s natural relief?                    LEAF

Leaf blooms, burns red before delighted eyes.           DIES

Her beauty makes of dying, ecstasy.                         SEE.

Yet what’s the end of our long life’s disease?            EASE

If death is not, who is my enemy?                             ME

Then are you glad that I must end in sleep?               LEAP

I’d leap into the dark if dark were true.                    TRUE

And in that night would you rejoice or weep?           WEEP

What contradiction makes you take this view?          YOU

I feel your calling leads me where I go.                      GO

But whether happiness is there, you know.                NO    
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I love everything about this poem - how it has such a sense of mystery and anxiety. The mystery is in the answer to the questions; even though the author included them, they could be interpreted in so many different ways. The anxiety can be heard in the voice of the 'narrator'. He or she seems to be going through a lot of struggle in life, without their partner there to answer all these nagging questions. I believe the echo to be the quiet, almost unnoticeable answer from the friend to the troubled main character. Overall, I especially love the mystery of the poem...it kind of leaves you hanging - deep in thought.