He’s gone.
I do not understand.
I only know
That as he turned to go
And waved his hand,
In his young eyes a sudden glory shone,
And I was dazzled with a sunset glow,
And he was gone.
Reflection
Some poems do not require a translation into simpler language because, just as they are, they are simple and lovely. “The Going” is one of those poems.
I recently taught this poem to my 3rd grade class as a complement to Elizabeth George Speare’s The Sign of the Beaver. There are some aspects of the poem that match perfectly with the novel, and some that do not. My students did a beautiful job capturing the connections.
“This poem is clearly sad, but it is also clearly happy,” I said. “What are some of the words that make you think it is sad?”
“‘I do not understand,’” said one of my students, “That is something you say when something bad is happening. Also, ‘He’s gone.’”
“Yes, and what about the words that make us think there is something more positive happening, too?” I asked.
One boy piped in loudly, “DAZZLED!”
Another student added, “Glory!”
A third child thoughtfully said, “The speaker is sad, but the person he is watching is happy.”
We talked about the use of the words “sunset glow.” Sunsets are beautiful, but they are also endings. When I asked what was ending in The Sign of the Beaver, my students said…
“The day.”
“Their friendship.”
A pause.
“Attean’s childhood.”
Some goodbyes are tragedies, while others are distinctly bittersweet. This is one of the latter, and that is why it goes well with The Sign of the Beaver. In the end, the two boys from different worlds must say goodbye to each other. Even though they have begun to call each other “brother,” they know that they are unlikely to meet again. When the main character, Matt, says goodbye to Attean, it is with much grief. Attean is also reluctant to leave his friend, although he would never say it. But, he is also off to join the men of his tribe in their traditional hunt, which is something he has often spoken of longingly to Matt. He is saying goodbye, but he is also achieving a dream. Although Matt will miss his friend, he is also making a manly decision of his own by staying behind. And of course, he knows how much this means to his friend, and he is happy for him.
I connect with this poem personally as a teacher. I see my students “going” at the end of each year as they get older, and eventually they go into another teacher’s class. Then, when they graduate from eighth grade and go off to high school, I see them “going” even more. I’m happy for them, proud of them, and excited for all the wonderful things they will do. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was sad, too. I relish the a-ha moments, the life lessons, and the emotional reactions to the books we read together. Every year marks an ending of one kind or another with my students. Someday, I will connect with this poem as a mother, too… And I am not ready to think about that just yet!
The bittersweet goodbye is captured briefly and beautifully in “The Going.”