Like primitives we buried the cat
with his bowl. Bare-handed
we scraped sand and gravel
back into the hole. It fell with a hiss
and thud on his side,
on his long red fur, the white feathers
that grew between his toes, and his
long, not to say aquiline, nose.
We stood and brushed each other off.
There are sorrows much keener than these.
Silent the rest of the day, we worked,
ate, stared, and slept. It stormed
all night; now it clears, and a robin
burbles from a dripping bush
like the neighbor who means well
but always says the wrong thing.
Jane Kenyon, “The Blue Bowl” from Collected Poems. Graywolf Press. Copyright © 2005 by the Estate of Jane Kenyon.
I learned a new word: burble. And it’s the burbling robin that really makes this poem wonderful.
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Burble is a good strong word…especially here burbling from a bush… like a combo of bubble and babble and warble but unique all on its own. Kenyon had a beautiful way with words.
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