“Himself let him unknown contain”
By Tom Clark
Wyatt, with no insurance on his own head,
watching the execution of Anne Boleyn
from his cell in the Tower, while beyond
on Tower Hill her lovers also are executed,
reflects upon his wasted virtue and now
redundant innocence, rueful he ever did
let his name be known beyond the door of
his soul or hung his star from fate thrones.
Copyright Credit: Tom Clark, “ ‘Himself let him unknown contain’ ” from Light and Shade: New and Selected Poems. Copyright � 2006 by Tom Clark. Used with the
permission of Coffee House Press, www.coffeehousepress.org.
permission of Coffee House Press, www.coffeehousepress.org.
Source: Sleepwalker (1992)