The Secret Heart
Across the years he could recall
His father one way best of all.
In the stillest hour of night
The boy awakened to a light.
Half in dreams, he saw his sire
With his great hands full of fire.
The man had struck a match to see
If his son slept peacefully.
He held his palms each side the spark
His love had kindled in the dark.
His two hands were curved apart
In the semblance of a heart.
He wore, it seemed to his small son,
A bare heart on his hidden one,
A heart that gave out such a glow
No son awake could bear to know.
It showed a look upon his face
Too tender for the day to trace.
One instant, it lit all about,
And then the secret heart went out.
But it shone long enough for one
To know that hands held up the sun
Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.
poem video👇
Who wrote the poem "The Secret Heart"?
Robert Peter Tristram Coffin (March 18, 1892 – January 20, 1955)
Robert P.T. Coffin was an American poet,
educator, editor, literary critic, and writer. He won the Pulitzer Prize for
Poetry in 1936. He was the youngest of ten children. He received his
undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College, Masters of Arts from Princeton
University, and Doctor of Literature from Oxford University. He also served
with the US Army in World War I. He died of a heart attack at the age of 62.
"The Secret Heart" explanation
In the poem, the speaker narrates the
fondest childhood memory of his father. One night, a boy awoke to see his
father checking on him (to see if his son is sleeping well) with a lit match in
cupped hands. “Half in dreams,” the boy thinks the match light looks like a
heart on his father’s chest, “a bare heart on his hidden one.” This poem was
written in the early 20th century. Back then, a man wasn’t supposed
to express his emotions. That is why the father in this poem had to secretly
express his love for his son at night with a match. Hence, “Secret Love.” Fortunately,
the son realized his father’s love (“To know that hands held up the sun” (son))
and remembers the moment as a tender childhood memory of his father. Do you
have a good memory with your father?
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