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Rue

Rue

By Samuel Menashe 1925–2011 Samuel Menashe
For what I did   
And did not do   
And do without   
In my old age   
Rue, not rage   
Against that night   
We go into,   
Sets me straight   
On what to do   
Before I die—   
Sit in the shade,   
Look at the sky   

Samuel Menashe, “Rue” from Samuel Menashe: New and Selected Poems, edited by Christopher Ricks, published by The Library of America, 2005. Copyright © 2004 by Samuel Menashe. Used by permission of the author.

Source: Poetry (September 2004).

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Poet Samuel Menashe 1925–2011

POET’S REGION U.S., Mid-Atlantic

Subjects Living, Growing Old, Death

Poetic Terms Allusion, Epigram, Alliteration, Consonance, Pastoral

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