Poetry Explication

A MARINE COMES TO TELL HER WHAT SHE ALREADY KNOWS

This is what a mother knows –

hands soaped with hot dishwater,

there is a lurch in time,

a shiver under her breastbone,

breath caught at the back of her throat

and something perfect, soft as velvet

drops away. She raises her head

but does not see the early robin

on the winter lawn.

She finishes the dishes

because she must do something –

throw away old shoes,

hang freshly laundered sheers,

dust books in her son's room,

scrape bathtub grout clean

with her thumbnail.

From the wretched heart of her

pristine house she sees the young man

on her porch, tugging at his dress tunic,

white-gloved hand reaching for the bell.

......................................for Chad,

......................................who was nineteen