Poem — Summary

Barbara MoraffContemplative

during the past few months become monastic content. this unseemly phase is im sure a function of space of having only the weather to contend with & i embrace it & hang the bells i make of its wind over your side of the bed

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The speaker describes a recent change in how they live: a quiet, almost monastic contentment. They call it "unseemly," as if a little embarrassed to be so happy alone, and guess that it comes from space, from having only the weather to deal with rather than other people. There's no drama here, just a calm acceptance. "I embrace it," the speaker says, plainly.

The ending gives the poem its ache. The speaker makes bells out of the wind and hangs them "over your side of the bed." That detail suggests someone is missing, or at least that the bed once held two people. The bells fill the absence with sound and movement instead of grief. The mood is peaceful but tinged with loneliness, and the poem never says which feeling wins. The casual lowercase style and lack of punctuation make it feel like a private thought, spoken quietly to the person who isn't there.

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