On A Wedding Anniversary
The sky is torn across
This ragged anniversary of two
Who moved for three years in tune
Down the long walks of their vows.
Now their love lies a loss
And Love and his patients roar on a chain;
From every tune or crater
Carrying cloud, Death strikes their house.
Too late in the wrong rain
They come together whom their love parted:
The windows pour into their heart
And the doors burn in their brain.
Commentary
Easily one of my favourite Dylan poems. I love the way the sense of distance and separation in the first stanza dissolves into aching passion; how a quiet walk on a cloudy day becomes an experience of love that is simulataneously revelation and loss. And I love the way that Thomas, as always, finds the exact phrases for that experience - of all the places in poetry that relationships have floundered, there are few more simple and more moving than “too late in the wrong rain” - and finds also the exact balance between those phrases, so that a poem filled with raging lines (“Love and his patients roar on a chain”, “Doors burn in their brain”) still manages to convey an overall impression of quiet tragedy.
— Aseem
Minstrels Links
Dylan Thomas:
Poem #14, Prologue
Poem #38, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Poem #58, The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower
Poem #138, Fern Hill
Poem #225, Poem In October
Poem #270, Under Milk Wood
Poem #335, After the Funeral (In memory of Ann Jones)
Poem #405, Altarwise by Owl-Light (Stanzas I - IV)
Poem #476, In my craft or sullen art
Poem #568, Especially when the October Wind
Poem #1035, The Hand that Signed the Paper
Poem #1067, On A Wedding Anniversary
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Cook Steven C (Steve) ALBAS · 28 June 2002
I don’t think there is anyone walking in a literal sense. The journey is the paths that are taken towards loving, honouring and cherishment ‘til death do they part; and perhaps the stark and horrid realisation that the journey isn’t about romance, but compromise and tenacity. It’s the Love song and it’s once innocent singers that have been shackled, and the lightning from the crater carrying cloud of the torn sky has rended the shelter that Love provided. There’s a new tune of an entirely different sort to be sung.
Regards,
Steve.
On A Wedding Anniversary
The sky is torn across
This ragged anniversary of two
Who moved for three years in tune
Down the long walks of their vows.
Now their love lies a loss
And Love and his patients roar on a chain;
From every tune or crater
Carrying cloud, Death strikes their house.
Too late in the wrong rain
They come together whom their love parted:
The windows pour into their heart
And the doors burn in their brain.
Colleen De Norman · 11 October 2007
The poem is a bit terse and does not tell enough of a story. I think it would be more meaningful if there were quotes from the two people in the relationship so that one could really understand what they were saying. Lack of words can sometimes cause misinterpretation. I am no Dylan Thomas so this is just my gut reaction. Thanks for posting the poem. :)
Colleen