Helen Dunmore's Last Poem, Revealed

Accomplished British poet Helen Dunmore passed away this week, after a long battle with terminal cancer (as we reported yesterday). At the Guardian, Danuta Kean guides readers to a few of Dunmore's last words, a poem, entitled "Hold out your arms," written on an iPhone from her death bed. The poem will be included in the second edition of Dunmore's latest collection, Inside the Wave. "Hold out your arms was written on 25 May, and shows Dunmore facing the terminal stage of cancer with courage, resignation and calm," Kean explains. On, from there:

Poet Ruth Padel said: “This last poem, quietly sensual and subtle at the same time, luminous and utterly gentle, glows with clear-eyed calm and breathes secure love for her family for nature.”

Dunmore addresses death directly, likening it to a mother tenderly caring for her child and to a bearded iris, “lovely and intricate”. The imagery is warm and comforting, as the author imagines herself as a young, shy child, waiting to be lifted by her mother and taken home. “She will pick me up and hold me / So no one can see me, / I will scrub my hair into hers,” she writes.

In a heartbreaking conclusion, it ends: “As you push back my hair – / Which could do with a comb / But never mind – / You murmur / ‘We’re nearly there.’”

“The new poem shows us what a terrible loss this is – of a presence, a friend and a warm, always-ready smile as well as a wonderful poet,” Padel said.

Editor Neil Astley, of Dunmore’s poetry publisher Bloodaxe, said the poem will be included in the second edition of her final collection Inside the Wave, which was published in April, at the wish of her family. Dunmore sent Astley the poem the day after writing it on her iPhone.

Read more at the Guardian.