"Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead" by Andrew Hudgins

Line 14:

He is ready. I am not.

I think this line sums up the entirity of the poem. The speaker is glad that his father is not afraid of dying, but he himself is afraid. His father believes that when he dies he will go to Heaven and that the speaker will follow him there. The speaker, on the other hand, has major doubts about his father's views on the afterlife- "I do not think he's right" (line 13). The speaker is very pessimistic while the father is optimistic. For example, in lines 19-21 the speaker compares death to traveling on a boat. He says that he will be convinced his father has drowned, but his father is convinced he will be waiting on the dock. His father is so sure in his beliefs that he talks of Heaven "as though his reservations have been made" (lines 5-6), as though he is guaranteed a spot. I think the speaker may be elegizing his father even though he is not yet dead because his father is terminally ill. It's not supported in the text, really, but it is the only reason that makes sense to me.

Until Next Time,
Alysse