Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead

"I see myself on deck, convinced 
his ship's gone down, while he's convinced 
I'll see him standing on the dock 
and waving, shouting, Welcome back."


This poem is an elegy which is usually about someone who has died. However, the speaker's father has not actually died yet, he is just ready to die. I think the other definition of elegy which is a poem of mourning is present in this poem. The speaker is not ready for his father to die. The father is very accepting of death and "he talks about the world beyond this world as though his reservations have been made". I think the main problem is that there are two different views on faith. The father seems to have a strong faith and knows there is an after-life like when he talks about the world beyond this world. The son on the other hand is not so sure about life after death, "He thinks that when I follow him he'll wrap me in his arms and laugh, the way he did when I arrived on earth. I do not think he's right". The son has a lack of faith and therefore is sad about his father's death because he thinks he will never see his father again. I think that is what the final four lines are enforcing. The son thinks that the father's "ship's gone down" meaning that once he dies, it is over. The father believes that he will be "standing on the dock" meaning that the father will be awaiting his son. The father does not fear death because he knows there is a more important life after the human one.