poem

Since yesterday when Mary died

None of her friends have said a word

While all their mothers have cried, cried;

For she came to us as a bluebird* *a harbinger of spring!

In March; Dry-eyed they sit in Church,

Boys and Girls who really knew her,

Mary’s crowd left in the lurch;

They see no cause to rue* her. *to pity

Away from Mary’s grave they walk,

Boys who kissed her in the park,

Girls who knew too much to gawk

At Mary, lingering in the dark.

What significance do you think might be attached to the bluebird? What conflict is expressed in the poem? Is it a matter of differing moral views, of varying awareness of Mary and her character, or of maturity in judgment? Whose attitude do you admire more, that of Mary’s friends, or that of their mothers? How can the poem be related to concepts with which we have dealt in this course?