Poppies

I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose

deep intimacy and maternal love that the mother has for her son

‘graze’ - soft, delicate, almost hesitant but also painful which suggests a moment of gentle affection that she longs for but cannot have, conveys childlike tenderness, perhaps recalling when he was little and even though he’s going to war as a solider, she still sees him as a child that she takes care of and it pains her to let go

emotional and physical closeness has been disrupted by war and separation

first person - rawness of statement, personal

released a song bird from its cage

the song bird is her son which symbolises child like innocence and gentleness

the cage is her arms and house where she cared for him and nurtured him as he grew up

letting the bird out the cage shows how he's let him take his own course in life and now the mother has to lay back and watch in grief as her intoxicated son is captured by the hypnotising promises of war and suffers due to it

it's a bittersweet parting as she chooses to let go of her grief which is both a loving action and painful for her, the bird her son is now exposed to danger but she can't help him because he now flies on his own as a soldier which leaves her with immense grief

she yearns to have the little child he once was back in her arms and if shows that no matter how old he gets a mother's love remains unconditional and she'll always view him as her child that she needs to protect and care for

her final act of love was letting him go and grieving him in silence

and you were away, intoxicated

the dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch

dove is a universal symbol of peace and freedom, also mourning in christian imagery

dove could represents the sons soul in the afterlife, flying freely achieving freedom

‘pulled freely’ contradiction between pulled which is forceful and freely which is ease and liberation, could show that letting go of her son is both painful and but prideful as she admires him flying freely

ornamental stitch adds on to this delicate nature of the line, domestic imagery is shown here, a stitch is something that fixes and holds things together showing how she’s trying to hold onto herself but how grief has also been woven into her soul

the sky reflects the distance that is now between the mother and son and now she can only yearn and mourn him and no longer embrace, adds onto the longing prevalent throughout