Thursday, May 26, 2005
Words can ‘domesticate a fear’
A rather morbid but vivid poem from Richard Wilbur, quoted in a Christian Century review of his new compilation (which is excellent):
A Barred Owl
Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.
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