This poem is “To Her Father With Some Verses” by Anne Bradstreet and I have chosen it because today would have been my own dad’s 87th birthday had he lived.
Most truly honoured, and as truly dear,
Anne Bradstreet (1612—1672)
If worth in me or ought I do appear,
Who can of right better demand the same
Than may your worthy self from whom it came?
Poem 298. To Her Father With Some Verses
Most truly honoured, and as truly dear,
If worth in me or ought I do appear,
Who can of right better demand the same
Than may your worthy self from whom it came?
The principal might yield a greater sum,
Yet handled ill, amounts but to this crumb;
My stock’s so small I know not how to pay,
My bond remains in force unto this day;
Yet for part payment take this simple mite,
Where nothing’s to be had, kings loose their right.
Such is my debt I may not say forgive,
But as I can, I’ll pay it while I live;
Such is my bond, none can discharge but I,
Yet paying is not paid until I die.
This is another Shakespearean sonnet (AABBCCDDEEFFGG is the rhyme scheme) but it’s a bit easier to see the rhymes in this one since Bradstreet doesn’t use assonance.
Bradstreet begins her address to her father with praise, describing him as “truly honoured, and as truly dear” and saying that whatever virtue rests in her derives from her parent. She deprecates herself by contrast with him in a metaphor drawn from the financial world: “The principal might yield a greater sum” suggesting that he is the principal (the starting amount) which might yield much more with more careful attention than the “crumb” that she represents as herself.
Likening herself to a debtor who has so few resources that she can never repay what she owes, she offers “this simple mite” since if the debtor has nothing to give, nothing can be given, not even to a king.
Since her obligation is so great, it cannot be forgiven (i.e. cancelled) so she will repay him in the only way a daughter can: with her love and attention, and this for her whole life.
I like this because it is such a simple but heart-felt tribute to her father, and it expresses very well the way I feel about my own dad, whom I wish had lived to see his sons become the successful and happy men he worked so hard for.
On another note, one of our most notable modern poets, Benjamin Zephaniah, died this week. I listened to the audiobook of his autobiography some months ago read by the man himself and have enjoyed his poetry since I first discovered it. I shall be choosing one of his poems soon.
Links
- Watch a performance on the YouTube channel Poetry Readings.