The Dead

Billy Collins

The dead are always looking down on us, they say.

While we are putting on our shoes or eating a steak,

they are looking down through the glass bottom boats of heaven

as they row themselves slowly through eternity.

They watch the tops of our heads moving below on earth,

and when we lie down in a field or on a couch,

drugged perhaps by the hum of a long afternoon,

they think we are looking back at them,

which makes them lift their oars and fall silent

and wait, like parents, for us to close our eyes.

This poem is creepy and thanks to it I feel as if someone dead is watching me. (I hope not.) Anyways, I never actually heard of Billy Collins up to now. I did a little research about him and found out that he had been called a poet laureate, a poet who is honored for his work, which means he is an esteemed poet. Watching the animated video made me feel that the subject of his poem wasn’t that serious, but then I was wrong. After all, it was about the dead, who would make fun of the dead?

As I’ve typed before, this poem is creepy. It makes me feel that the dead are waiting for us to come and join them. It really just gives me an eerie feeling. Well, if that was Billy Collins’ prime reason in making this poem, I should tell you that he succeeded in doing so.

(Got this from YouTube)