My Sad Captains Comments

How late they start to shine! but before they fade they stand perfectly... Beautiful

Beautiful poem with touching expression.

A good poem that lingers in the mind after reading

'One by one they appear'! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

Stars, winnowed of failures.

A marvelous write by Thom Gunn👍👍

I wouldn't know about it standing up to Sappho, Nick, but I have to disagree that that the poem has much to do with friends; really more to do with those with who one sets as guides for one's own life, whether friends or no. Life goes on; you live it, you move far from those early guides, so far that they may now seem as cold and distant as stars.... and have you been back to DS lately?

This 'little' poem has a classical lyrical ethos and brilliance...it stands up to Sappho. The subject, Gunn's recollection of his friends, could easily have lapsed into sentimentality, just as could have Sappho's. Instead, he puts them into an apallingly cold hard orbit in the classical cosmos.