The poem
It is December in Wicklow: Alders dripping, birches Inheriting the last light, The ash tree cold to look at.
A comet that was lost Should be visible at sunset, Those million tons of light Like a glimmer of haws and rose-hips,
And I sometimes see a falling star. If I could come on meteorite! Instead I walk through damp leaves, Husks, the spent flukes of autumn,
Imagining a hero On some muddy compound, His gift like a slingstone Whirled for the desperate.
How did I end up like this? I often think of my friends' Beautiful prismatic counselling And the anvil brains of some who hate me
As I sit weighing and weighing My responsible tristia. For what? For the ear? For the people? For what is said behind-backs?
Rain comes down through the alders, Its low conductive voices Mutter about let-downs and erosions And yet each drop recalls
The diamond absolutes. I am neither internee nor informer; An inner émigré, grown long-haired And thoughtful; a wood-kerne
Escaped from the massacre, Taking protective colouring From bole and bark, feeling Every wind that blows;
Who, blowing up these sparks For their meagre heat, have missed The once-in-a-lifetime portent, The comet's pulsing rose.
i read this poem , theme of this poem is so ambiguous although after reading this poem we can say that this poem is about the unsatisfactoriness of modern man regarding to his existance in the society and one of the most important elements of this poem is loss of identity .......HOW DID I END UP LIKE THIS? i think he wants to say may be i ,ll destroy like a comet.......THE DIAMOND ABSOLOUTES ,re his good memories in further lines he is giving self analysis....people and things gone but memories will remains.sp i can ysay exposure is abt the unsatisfactoriness of his own life.