Nancy Scott McBride’s most recent poem to appear here was “Blizzard” (August 2019).
Matthew Arnold’s Famous Poem
By Nancy Scott McBride
Once,
my friend and fellow poet were talking about
Dover Beach.
We marveled at how moving and modern it is,
though it was written in the nineteenth century.
Do you know what the last line means? she asked.
Of course, I lied.
She was better educated, and I sometimes resented it.
Swallow your pride, I urged myself when we talked,
ask her about the “ignorant armies” that “clash by night.”
But I didn’t,
and now she has Parkinson’s and can’t speak to me at all.
I could Google it, of course, or ask someone else,
but I don’t.
That wouldn’t be fair to Peggy.
The loss of the friend standing in fornt of you, is devastating.