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Poet's Choice

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He goes over the wrongs he committed.

His conscience, does it bother him much?

Only when he lies down to get a night's rest.

The hellfires, does he feel them closing in?

No, but he hears the hounds barking.

Does he lift his eyes humbly in forgiveness?

Her love was his judge, her wrath the jury.

Some dark night, praying to the Lord above,

His own tongue will slash his throat.

The shock and comedy of the last phrase -- can it be called "an image"? -- are unsettling, and compliment a reader's intelligence. ·

(Charles Simic's poem "My Turn to Confess" is from his book "My Noiseless Entourage: Poems." Harcourt. Copyright 2005 by Charles Simic. His poem "Further Adventures of Charles Simic" can be found in "Charles Simic: Selected Early Poems." George Braziller. Copyright 1999 by Charles Simic.)

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