Myth, by Natasha Trethewey

Copyright © 2007 by Natasha Trethewey, who was twice named Poet Laureate of the United States of America, serving that duty from 2012 to 2014.  She currently serves as the Poet Laureate of Mississippi.

Myth appears in Native Guard (Mariner Books of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007), book for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 .

Photograph by Jalissa Gray - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15244260

Myth

I was asleep while you were dying.
It's as if you slipped through some rift, a hollow
I make between my slumber and my waking,

the Erebus I keep you in, still trying
not to let go. You'll be dead again tomorrow,
but in dreams you live. So I try taking

you back into morning. Sleep-heavy, turning,
my eyes open, I find you do not follow.
Again and again, this constant forsaking.

*

Again and again, this constant forsaking:
my eyes open, I find you do not follow.
You back into morning, sleep-heavy, turning.

But in dreams you live. So I try taking,
not to let go. You'll be dead again tomorrow.
The Erebus I keep you in—still, trying—

I make between my slumber and my waking.
It's as if you slipped through some rift, a hollow.
I was asleep while you were dying.



From a 2007 Panhandler Magazine interview from the University of West Florida, Natasha Trethewey candidly states "I am deeply interested in the experience of other human beings, no matter how small or seemingly trivial it is." I wholeheartedly share this sentiment. Note the use of the adjective seemingly modifying trivial. Often enough, human beings trivialize the most important matters and elevate in importance the most irrelevant and trivial of issues. If only people were paying attention, like she is!