The Malham Bird - Dannie Abse (p77)

The poem...

(For Joan)

That long summer a clarity of marvels
yet no morning News announced the great world
had been reinvented and we were new,
in love - you a Gentile and I a Jew!

Dear wife, remember our first illicit
holiday, the rented room, the hidden beach
in Wales, the tame seagull that seemed a portent,
a love message, as if Dafydd's ghost had sent it?

After our swim we lay on our shadows naked,
more than together, and saw high in the blue
two chalk lines kiss and slowly disappear.
Then the friendly gull swooped down, magnified, near.

Now, three grandchildren later, I think of
a black feathered bird, the malham of Eden,
how it took advice, closed its eyes resolute,
when others singing pecked forbidden fruit;

and how, of all the birds, it was not banished
but stayed, lonely, immortal, forever winging
over the vanished gardens of Paradise.


Commentary...

This poem is a love poem and is dedicated to Abse's wife. Abse reflects back to the summer that he and Joan fell in love, it was summer of "marvels". Joan was a "gentile" and Abse is a "Jew", this suggests that their love is strong because despite having different beliefs they still love one another. I get the impression that the love between Abse and his wife was an amazement to him as he said that it should have been announced in the "News" to the "great world". This also shows how often when someone falls in love, the whole experience can be so overwhelming and exciting that the relationship becomes the centre of their world, so much that it feels more important than everything else that is going on in the world surrounding them.

In the second stanza, Abse remembers Joan's and his "first illicit holiday", it being "illicit" suggests that it was forbidden, showing how strong their love was because they were prepared to go against the rules. Also, them being on a "hidden beach" reflects the intimacy of their relationship as it implies that it was only them two together and that was what was important to them, nothing else matters, showing the intensity of their love. Abse suggests that the "tame seagull" that flew over him and Joan was a "portent" meaning a symbol for something wonderful (their relationship and love for each other) and asks if this symbol was sent by "Dafydd's ghost". Here, Abse is referring to Dafydd ap Gwilym who is regarded as one the Welsh leading poets of the Middle Ages, who was well known for his love poetry.

Abse and Joan were "naked, more than together". Them being "naked" could suggest how they were 100% themselves and comfortable with one another as as well as physically, metaphorically they didn't hide anything from one another. Them being "more than together" shows how the couple were a union, like one person, showing how powerful their love was. The couple lying together on the ground, looking up into the sky creates an image of complete content and peacefulness with one another, each other's presence is enough for them. When looking into the sky, they see two clouds join and then disappear, "two chalk lines kiss and slowly disappear". The clouds joining by a "kiss" and then disappearing could be metaphorical for how the love between Abse and Joan is eternal, because the clouds don't part once joined, so maybe is suggesting that although they may disappear, their love won't.

The fourth stanza shows how Abse and Joan's relationship was successful and had endured as they had "three grandchildren". According to Jewish legend, the Malham bird of Eden "took advice" not to eat the forbidden fruit and so lived forever in paradise. However, this meant they couldn't taste the joys of this world such as marriage and was "lonely". Whereas the ones that "pecked forbidden fruit" were "singing" happily. This suggests that to be happy, risks need to be taken, like how the ones that ate the forbidden fruit done as they ended up better off than the malham bird that followed the rules. It also suggests that in life there isn't a concrete way to do things, you should create your own life, not let others create yours. Abse's think of the malham bird being triggered by the thoughts of his grandchildren and his wife shows how much he appreciates what he has and he's glad he went against the rules at the beginning of his and Joan's relationship, because he ended up with more from life than those that played it safe.

Some Larkin poems which this poem made me think of are Send No Money because of the theme of being tricked out of life. Also, Dockery and Son and Self's the Man because of theme of how our life choices define our life and who we are in the end.