Review on, "It is the Constant Image of your Face", By Dennis Brutus

IT IS THE CONSTANT IMAGE OF YOUR FACE

IT IS THE CONSTANT IMAGE OF YOUR FACE​

It is the constant image of your face framed in my hands as you knelt before my chair the grave attention of your eyes surveying me amid my world of knives that stays with me, perennially accuses and convicts me of heart’s-treachery; and neither you nor I can plead excuses for you , you know, can claim no loyalty – my land takes precedence of all my loves.

Yet I beg mitigation, pleading guilty for you, my dear, accomplice of my heart made, without words, such blackmail with your beauty and proffered me such dear protectiveness that I confess without remorse or shame, my still-fresh treason to my country and I hope that she, my other, dearest love will pardon freely, not attaching blame being your mistress (or your match) in tenderness

REVIEW

The poet; Dennis Brutus, executed a symmetry between romance with a woman and love for ones country the comparison s brought on by both immense passion for the two things in his life. The poem in my personal opinion appears that its a competition of the heart and patriotism the women seeing herself as second place in comparison to South Africa. Brutus is unapologetic for "my land takes precedence of all my loves". He loves his land more than all his other loves. His land is his woman’s rival and she is not pleased so she use things like her beauty to help sway his love towards her and only her, betraying his country and all he can hope is that his betrayal would be forgivable cause she was still his "dearest love" but he also downgraded her, his land as his other no longer his first but second place. Brutus see his treachery as justifiable because it was all for this woman that used her beauty to blackmail him into his betrayal.