290
PARTISAN REVIEW
BUl lhis, lhough: dealh,
lhe whole of dealh,-even before life's begun,
LO hold il all so gently, and be good:
lhis is beyond descriplion!
Rilke is speaking here of his inability
to
describe the child's original
grace, its unconsciousness of the dea th that grows within even as it
grows. Kinnell revises Rilke's focus, staking claim
to
" the whole of
death " as perceived by the adult who looks to his children with an
agonized presentiment of their future.
When Kinnell is in fact looking to his children, speaking about or
to the Maud and Fergus
to
whom the book is dedicated , his writing is
often superb. To Maud:
In the lighl the moon
sends back, I can see in your eyes
lhe hand lhal waved once
in my falh er's eyes, a liny kile
wobbling far up in the lwilighl of hi s last look :
and the angel
of all mortal things lets go the string.
7.
Back you go, into your crib.
The lasl blackbird lighls up his gold wings: farewell.
Your eyes close inside your head,
in sleep. Already
in your dreams the hours begin LO sing.
Lillie sleep's-head sprouling hair in the moonlighl,
when I come back
we will go oul LOgether,
we will walk OUl LOgelher among
lhe len lhousand lhings,
each scralched LOO lale wilh such knowledge,
the wages
of dying is love.
The image of the eyes is explored with deftness and surprise, then
wonderfully, gently led over into the seventh section to fin e effect. The
lovely ambling gait of section seven permits the beautiful simplicity of
" in your dreams the hours begin to sing."
" The wages of dying is love"
