Why Couldn’t They Have Loved Us?  

Why couldn’t they have loved us 
as we needed to be loved, 
an open hand, an arm 
around the child’s shoulder? 
We needed love; 
was it too much for them 
to show affection? 
Too much our single desire, 
as though they could 
give us something other 
than darkness, anger? 
As though they had in their hearts 
something other than indifference, their love 
paper-thin, as thin 
as a leaf when 
turned red and brittle, 
memories of absence. 
Why couldn’t they 
have loved us, given 
what a child expects, 
not to ask 
for love but given 
with an open heart, 
a hand turned palm up, 
a caress? Instead, 
they rehearsed burials, 
lay already in their graves, 
made sure the depth was right, 
kept watch through nights of silence, 
pressed their shoulders 
and arms against 
earthwalls. 

 
A grave is a hard bed 
and a long night 
awaits: they prepared 
for their final rest 
with frugal displays 
of love, as though 
this destiny were right. 
Smell my flesh— 
it is damp and the earth 
is a wave washing over 
my arms and face; 
touch my hands— 
they are cold 
as the December earth 
that falls on your face, 
feel it hit your chest and legs, 
look into my eyes; 
already they glaze over, 
already they are brown 
as the earth. 
 

An excerpt from The Mystic Beast 
© 1997 Stephen Morrissey

Stephen Morrissey was born in Montreal, Quebec. Since the early 1970s, he has written six books of poetry plus several chapbooks; produced reviews and essays; edited two literary periodicals, and given readings. He teaches Literature and Humanities at Champlain College and makes his home in Montreal. In the shadow aspect of the human soul resides  qualities of personality that we usually repress; paradoxically, it is also a place of great creativity. The poetry of Stephen Morrissey deals with deeply felt areas of experience—including death, failure, sexuality, grief and desire. Morrissey searches for both personal and universal dimensions; his confessional poetry achieves redemption through self-revelation.

Links

The Official Stephen Morrissey Website

Stephen Morrissey's Blog

"Hoolihan's Flat, Oxford Avenue" (Poem)

League of Canadian Poets

"The Not-Yet-Transformed God" (Article)

"Poetry Spoken Here

"The Véhicule Poets Now"