Not Waving but Drowning
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
by Stevie Smith (1902-1971).
Stevie Smith’s real name was Florence Margaret Smith. “Not Waving but Drowning”, perhaps her most frequently anthologized work, reminds me of Nima’s “Ay Aadam-ha”, a poem that narrates the final moments of a drowning “yek nafar”, a gender-unspecified victim.
Both Stevie Smith’s and Nima’s subjects “wave” at us.
