My Cloak — Summary

Within my cloak I draw the winds Its folds are clouds and trees The lining green and green on green Runs all the rain in satin streamers.

Taut with its inner winds I hold this cloak

Its billowing curves embroidered with a mimic earth

Then quickly snap the fastening shut

And let it fall

Let all

Collapsing over Cover me.

Outside there lies a still dark heap But inside I am now my cloak.

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 imagines a cloak that holds the whole outdoors: winds, clouds, trees, and a green lining where rain runs down in "satin streamers." It is a strange, lovely picture, part clothing and part landscape. The speaker holds the cloak open, filled with air and decorated with a "mimic earth," then fastens it shut and lets it drop.

That drop is where the poem changes. The short lines, "Let all / Collapsing over / Cover me," slow everything down and mimic the cloak falling. From outside, all that remains is "a still dark heap," plain and lifeless. But the last line claims something bigger: "inside I am now my cloak." The speaker has stopped being a person wearing nature and has become the world inside the fabric.

The mood is quiet, private and a little magical. It feels like pulling a blanket over your head and finding a whole world in the dark, safe and slightly hidden from view.

Read also

More by Peter John Dean

All poems
AnxiousPeter John Dean

The Followers

What are these hooded forms? Mute, eyeless, towers of darkness delicately stepping, They rose like whispers at my birth And leaving far behind my mother weeping
DreamyPeter John Dean

Celtic

They are not sinister ghosts With their pale hair, Their pale lips smiling. They are paler than rain,
AnxiousPeter John Dean

Mirror, Mirror

Mirrored eyes Aren't mine. Mirrored mouth That opens dumbly