b. 1903 (Tupelo) – d. 1985 (Annapolis)
I From ‘Poems of 1926’
My son is born today
From the hadean womb
To this earthy room
(Twenty third of May)
II From ‘Poems of 1937’
I have watched him grow
As he lives and learns
As he twists and turns
Like the bull of Tupelo
III From ‘Poems of 1951’
This is your wedding song
Its tune cracked like a cup
But its notes all added up
Ply whisky sweet as strong
IV From ‘Poems of 1975’
The silvers in your hair
Cry to the moon at night
Whose whispers to the light
Of the sun seem so unfair
V From ‘Last Poems’ (1987)
We two we poor old two
Peppered with the years
But nothing, it appears,
Which withers will renew
Cedric Copperman
VI From ‘Pieces Together’ (1985)
Anne Arundel General Hospital, Annapolis
My father died today
In the unearthly gloom
Of the river to the tomb
(Twenty third of May)
VII From ‘Poems of 1993’
Grief,
the leaf one too many,
gears us as it sears us
on our destined road
Grief,
weaving its works
with our tears
as we while its road
Grief,
today yet forever
the fallen leaf
on the deserted road
Not just a father,
rather
you were the road