This poem is sad but also very moving and sweet. You feel terrible for the father, but then his personality comes out, and he seems content, at which point, you feel sad for the mother, but she still seems to maintain a certain amount of humor, perhaps a small happiness that her husband, despite not knowing her, is happy where he is. Of course, it's all told through the eyes of the speaker, the daughter, the real-life poet, who, despite her sadness, can look at the moment through an artist's lens. The title cinched it for me, maybe because New Years wasn't that long ago. While I read the poem, I hear the song at the same time. And the poem does exactly what the song does. It's pretty amazing actually, that juxtaposition of bitter and sweet and memory and present. Nicely done.
My original intention was to talk about Anne Bradstreet today, America's first published poet. I'm rather glad I stumbled upon this instead.
