A weariness of the flesh — Summary

in the time of words an earful of discontent

we go home and to work again how staid

in my books the weather turns to ink

Show the whole poemHide the poem

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

The speaker sounds tired, and not from physical effort. The title, "A weariness of the flesh," points to a deeper fatigue, the kind that comes from living among too many words. The opening lines suggest a world full of talk, where all anyone seems to hear is complaint: "an earful of discontent."

Then comes a dull routine. "We go home and to work again" has no drama in it, and the speaker's comment, "how staid," sounds like a sigh, half judging the sameness of life and half judging themselves for sliding into it.

The last image is the most interesting. In the speaker's books, "the weather turns to ink." Real weather, with its wind and rain, becomes printed description. That could be a comfort, a way of escaping into reading, or a loss, since life gets turned into text and kept at a distance. The poem doesn't choose between them. The mood is quiet, restless and a little resigned, like someone gazing out a window while holding a book.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss