{"id":11918,"date":"2025-07-23T19:35:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T19:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=11918"},"modified":"2025-07-23T19:35:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T19:35:38","slug":"i-want-this-jane-kenyon-poem-read-aloud-at-my-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=11918","title":{"rendered":"I Want This Jane Kenyon Poem Read Aloud at My Funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

You can hear a reading of this poem at the bottom of the page.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pond at Dusk\u201d: It\u2019s a title that presents an image of calm, touched with the faintest shimmer of dread. You might picture a peaceful summer evening in the countryside somewhere, but you might also feel the tug of a somber metaphor in the word \u201cdusk.\u201d Night is falling, and this poem proceeds, nimbly and observantly, toward an unsentimental confrontation with death.<\/p>\n

Jane Kenyon in 1992.<\/p>\n

William Abranowicz\/Art + Commerce<\/p>\n

In one called \u201cTwilight: After Haying\u201d \u2014 there\u2019s that dusk again \u2014 she writes that \u201cthe soul \/ must part from the body: \/ what else could it do?\u201d What else indeed. This fatalism provides its own kind of solace. \u201cThe day comes at last.\u201d The end is inevitable, inarguable, and there may be a balm in acknowledging that fact.<\/p>\n

Not that \u201cThe Pond at Dusk\u201d quite dispenses such consolation. It isn\u2019t Kenyon\u2019s style to offer homilies or lessons. Instead, she watches, with sympathetic detachment, standing back from the implications of her words and letting them ripple outward, toward the reader.<\/p>\n

This is not the kind of nature poetry that gazes in wonder at the glories of creation, taking the world as a mirror of the poet\u2019s ego. Kenyon parcels out her attention carefully, removing herself from the picture as rigorously as a landscape painter at her easel.<\/p>\n

Listen to A.O. Scott read the poem.<\/h2>\n

THE POND AT DUSK<\/span> by Jane Kenyon<\/em><\/h4>\n

T<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0P<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0D<\/span>u<\/span>s<\/span>k<\/span><\/span>\u00a0b<\/span>y<\/span><\/span>\u00a0J<\/span>a<\/span>n<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0K<\/span>e<\/span>n<\/span>y<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

A<\/span><\/span>\u00a0f<\/span>l<\/span>y<\/span><\/span>\u00a0w<\/span>o<\/span>u<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0w<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span><\/span>\u00a0b<\/span>u<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0w<\/span>o<\/span>u<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

s<\/span>o<\/span>o<\/span>n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0h<\/span>e<\/span>a<\/span>l<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>w<\/span>a<\/span>l<\/span>l<\/span>o<\/span>w<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>i<\/span>l<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>w<\/span>i<\/span>t<\/span>t<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

o<\/span>v<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span>a<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>d<\/span>r<\/span>o<\/span>p<\/span>p<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span><\/span>\u00a0n<\/span>o<\/span>w<\/span><\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span>n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>o<\/span>w<\/span>a<\/span>r<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0o<\/span>u<\/span>t<\/span>w<\/span>a<\/span>r<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>–<\/span><\/span>r<\/span>a<\/span>d<\/span>i<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>e<\/span>v<\/span>i<\/span>d<\/span>e<\/span>n<\/span>c<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0o<\/span>f<\/span><\/span>\u00a0f<\/span>o<\/span>o<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0g<\/span>r<\/span>e<\/span>e<\/span>n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0h<\/span>a<\/span>z<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0o<\/span>n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>r<\/span>e<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0c<\/span>h<\/span>a<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

i<\/span>n<\/span>t<\/span>o<\/span><\/span>\u00a0l<\/span>e<\/span>a<\/span>v<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0w<\/span>h<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0l<\/span>o<\/span>o<\/span>k<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0l<\/span>i<\/span>k<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0s<\/span>m<\/span>o<\/span>k<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

f<\/span>l<\/span>o<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span><\/span>\u00a0o<\/span>v<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0n<\/span>e<\/span>i<\/span>g<\/span>h<\/span>b<\/span>o<\/span>r<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0b<\/span>a<\/span>r<\/span>n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

i<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0o<\/span>n<\/span>l<\/span>y<\/span><\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>p<\/span>p<\/span>l<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0b<\/span>l<\/span>o<\/span>s<\/span>s<\/span>o<\/span>m<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

B<\/span>u<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0s<\/span>o<\/span>m<\/span>e<\/span>t<\/span>i<\/span>m<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0w<\/span>h<\/span>a<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0l<\/span>o<\/span>o<\/span>k<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0l<\/span>i<\/span>k<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0d<\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span>a<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

i<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0d<\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span>a<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span><\/span>:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0d<\/span>a<\/span>y<\/span><\/span>\u00a0c<\/span>o<\/span>m<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0l<\/span>a<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

a<\/span>n<\/span>d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0m<\/span>e<\/span>n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0s<\/span>t<\/span>r<\/span>u<\/span>g<\/span>g<\/span>l<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0w<\/span>i<\/span>t<\/span>h<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0c<\/span>a<\/span>s<\/span>k<\/span>e<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

j<\/span>u<\/span>s<\/span>t<\/span><\/span>\u00a0c<\/span>l<\/span>e<\/span>a<\/span>r<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span><\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>h<\/span>e<\/span><\/span>\u00a0p<\/span>e<\/span>w<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can hear a reading of this poem at the bottom of the page. \u201cThe Pond at Dusk\u201d: It\u2019s a title that presents an image of calm, touched with the faintest shimmer of dread. You might picture a peaceful summer evening in the countryside somewhere, but you might also feel the tug of a somber<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[5431,2247,5428,5429,5430,2563],"class_list":{"0":"post-11918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-aloud","9":"tag-funeral","10":"tag-jane","11":"tag-kenyon","12":"tag-poem","13":"tag-read"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}