Kilian McDonnell
Interpretations
by Lee Magness
The Younger Son
"So he set off and went to his father."--Luke 15:18
The gold is gone, and the last
tubercular floozie has stamped
her foot, swished an angry
skirt, and slammed the door.
In pursuit of the rapture of the deep
I settled for giggles in the back room.
A comedian with no more jokes
stumbling off stage left.
Shame can wait, not hunger.
I remember the mutton, the dates,
uneaten in my father's pantry,
and not a single sow in sight.
How hunger teaches the strategies of guilt;
the husks of my father's swine
are wise if you will listen.
Famine is seeing, unveiling.
Perhaps he would take me back
if I chose the right words.
"At eighteen, Father, I asked
for mine, though you lived.
You gave the portion due me,
full freedom for the road.
And I was gone for years
of tavern geniuses and tattoos."
The stomach remembers the stories
of lost things: drachmas
swept from under the bed,
sheep freed from the brambles.
Remembering always has a twin,
like the speaking mirror on the wall.
Why not a son who was dead,
startled into life by memory.
"So he set off and went to his father."--Luke 15:18
The gold is gone, and the last
tubercular floozie has stamped
her foot, swished an angry
skirt, and slammed the door.
In pursuit of the rapture of the deep
I settled for giggles in the back room.
A comedian with no more jokes
stumbling off stage left.
Shame can wait, not hunger.
I remember the mutton, the dates,
uneaten in my father's pantry,
and not a single sow in sight.
How hunger teaches the strategies of guilt;
the husks of my father's swine
are wise if you will listen.
Famine is seeing, unveiling.
Perhaps he would take me back
if I chose the right words.
"At eighteen, Father, I asked
for mine, though you lived.
You gave the portion due me,
full freedom for the road.
And I was gone for years
of tavern geniuses and tattoos."
The stomach remembers the stories
of lost things: drachmas
swept from under the bed,
sheep freed from the brambles.
Remembering always has a twin,
like the speaking mirror on the wall.
Why not a son who was dead,
startled into life by memory.
Answers:
1) At what point in the action of the parable does this poem take place?
This poem takes place at the point in the parable when the younger son has just come to a full awareness of his condition in the far country--his deep emptiness, his gnawing hunger--and finds himself "startled to life by memory," memories of home stirred by that very emptiness, that very hunger.
2) What has driven the younger son to want to return to his father?
Two things--1) his growing dissatisfaction with the enticements of the far country and 2) his memories of home and father. On the first point, his financial resources have been exhausted, the easy women disappeared once the easy money disappeared, even before their disappearance the loose women had lost their appeal, and a sense of shame has settled in. As to the second point, he remembers most pointedly the good food back home. But there is more. He remembers a father who gave him his freedom and gave him his inheritance and might yet give him a welcome home.
3) What does he think will convince the father to take him back?
The son thinks, wrongly, that the father might take him back if only he can think of the right words. Unfortunately, even though the son is rightly inclined toward home, he still can only bank on magic, magic words, rather than on mercy. In any case he harbors some hope, hope that, if a woman will look for a lost coin and a shepherd will search for a lost sheep, perhaps his father will welcome a dead son.
4) What are "...the stories/of lost things: drachmas/swept from under the bed,/sheep freed from the brambles"?
These lines refer to the companion parables in Luke 15--the lost sheep and the lost coin.
1) At what point in the action of the parable does this poem take place?
This poem takes place at the point in the parable when the younger son has just come to a full awareness of his condition in the far country--his deep emptiness, his gnawing hunger--and finds himself "startled to life by memory," memories of home stirred by that very emptiness, that very hunger.
2) What has driven the younger son to want to return to his father?
Two things--1) his growing dissatisfaction with the enticements of the far country and 2) his memories of home and father. On the first point, his financial resources have been exhausted, the easy women disappeared once the easy money disappeared, even before their disappearance the loose women had lost their appeal, and a sense of shame has settled in. As to the second point, he remembers most pointedly the good food back home. But there is more. He remembers a father who gave him his freedom and gave him his inheritance and might yet give him a welcome home.
3) What does he think will convince the father to take him back?
The son thinks, wrongly, that the father might take him back if only he can think of the right words. Unfortunately, even though the son is rightly inclined toward home, he still can only bank on magic, magic words, rather than on mercy. In any case he harbors some hope, hope that, if a woman will look for a lost coin and a shepherd will search for a lost sheep, perhaps his father will welcome a dead son.
4) What are "...the stories/of lost things: drachmas/swept from under the bed,/sheep freed from the brambles"?
These lines refer to the companion parables in Luke 15--the lost sheep and the lost coin.
Father of the Younger Son
"While he was still far off his father saw him."--Luke 15:20
Even after I gave up
keeping the tiger cub
in his cage, I picked it up,
forgetting snarls and claws,
though I have bite marks,
scratches to show love
comes late, scarred to wisdom.
Though you keep the cub
from larger cats, beware!
Young tigers have no shame.
The years I do not count
passing the window in the front,
searching the road for signs
of that cat no leash could check,
unmuzzled, free, and bleeding.
The helpless ache is ordinary,
the Thursday tedious, as I give a
passing glance through the window
at the dot on the far horizon, walking
as many have walked before.
But the way he swings his arms,
turns his head, slightly
pigeon-toed. I am out the door,
down the stairs, down the road,
running, arms outstretched.
My embrace, my tears, my laughter
gather in all the years,
my kiss stops rehearsed
genealogies of sin, outlawing of self.
Of course, you are my son.
Be quick, steward, clothe him
like the son of an Eastern king,
the best robe from my chest,
wake the cook, load
the table with meats and wines.
Call in friends and foes,
blaze the night into day
with torches, push the chairs
against the wall, pluck the harps,
strike the largest timbrel.
When the dead come back you drink.
When the lost are found you dance.
"While he was still far off his father saw him."--Luke 15:20
Even after I gave up
keeping the tiger cub
in his cage, I picked it up,
forgetting snarls and claws,
though I have bite marks,
scratches to show love
comes late, scarred to wisdom.
Though you keep the cub
from larger cats, beware!
Young tigers have no shame.
The years I do not count
passing the window in the front,
searching the road for signs
of that cat no leash could check,
unmuzzled, free, and bleeding.
The helpless ache is ordinary,
the Thursday tedious, as I give a
passing glance through the window
at the dot on the far horizon, walking
as many have walked before.
But the way he swings his arms,
turns his head, slightly
pigeon-toed. I am out the door,
down the stairs, down the road,
running, arms outstretched.
My embrace, my tears, my laughter
gather in all the years,
my kiss stops rehearsed
genealogies of sin, outlawing of self.
Of course, you are my son.
Be quick, steward, clothe him
like the son of an Eastern king,
the best robe from my chest,
wake the cook, load
the table with meats and wines.
Call in friends and foes,
blaze the night into day
with torches, push the chairs
against the wall, pluck the harps,
strike the largest timbrel.
When the dead come back you drink.
When the lost are found you dance.
Answers:
1) Why does McDonnell use the metaphor of the tiger cub for the younger son?
The father had tried to control (cage) his younger son (his tiger cub), but the son had resisted and rebelled and ultimately run away (snarls, claws, bites, scratches). Eventually the father learned (wisdom) a more liberal love (love comes late) in response to his son's shame.
2) How does the author demonstrate that the father has not forgotten his son?
Not a day went by that the father didn't look longingly out the front window and down the road, eager for his son's return. His longing look was accompanied by a deep heart ache. Then when the son appears on the horizon, the father recognizes him immediately--the swing of his arms, the tilt of his head, the way he walked.
3) What is the meaning of "...my kiss stops rehearsed/genealogies of sin, outlawing of self."
The younger son's plan had been to confess his sins and profess his unworthiness, but the father's forgiveness refuses to listen to his "rehearsed genealogies of sin" and his "outlawing of self." He stops the son's self-deprecating words with a kiss.
4) What is the father's justification for the celebration?
Using nearly the identical words as the father in the parable, this father declares that, when a lost son is found, a dead son comes back to life, "it is necessary" to celebrate.
1) Why does McDonnell use the metaphor of the tiger cub for the younger son?
The father had tried to control (cage) his younger son (his tiger cub), but the son had resisted and rebelled and ultimately run away (snarls, claws, bites, scratches). Eventually the father learned (wisdom) a more liberal love (love comes late) in response to his son's shame.
2) How does the author demonstrate that the father has not forgotten his son?
Not a day went by that the father didn't look longingly out the front window and down the road, eager for his son's return. His longing look was accompanied by a deep heart ache. Then when the son appears on the horizon, the father recognizes him immediately--the swing of his arms, the tilt of his head, the way he walked.
3) What is the meaning of "...my kiss stops rehearsed/genealogies of sin, outlawing of self."
The younger son's plan had been to confess his sins and profess his unworthiness, but the father's forgiveness refuses to listen to his "rehearsed genealogies of sin" and his "outlawing of self." He stops the son's self-deprecating words with a kiss.
4) What is the father's justification for the celebration?
Using nearly the identical words as the father in the parable, this father declares that, when a lost son is found, a dead son comes back to life, "it is necessary" to celebrate.
The Elder Son
"The elder son refuses to enter the house: "You have never given me even
a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.--Luke 15:29
So he's back, Stud the Magnificent,
himself, him whom you love.
You put rings on his fingers,
cloak him in silk, kill
the grain-fed calf, call
in the flutes so he nights
away the defiances of day,
dances deceit to your tambourines.
Himself brings only pain.
And you could not wait to be deceived.
You expect it, bow beneath
the blow. Yet again. And you weep.
This idiocy of love is tacky.
I fetch and carry;
I wait to be chosen,
reschedule my life for you.
No coat of many colors,
no gold for my fingers,
no sandals for my feet,
no fatted calf to bleed for me,
no harp to pluck for joy.
This son has yet to dance with friends
around a pot of goat stew.
Him you have loved, him.
No, I will not come in.
"The elder son refuses to enter the house: "You have never given me even
a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.--Luke 15:29
So he's back, Stud the Magnificent,
himself, him whom you love.
You put rings on his fingers,
cloak him in silk, kill
the grain-fed calf, call
in the flutes so he nights
away the defiances of day,
dances deceit to your tambourines.
Himself brings only pain.
And you could not wait to be deceived.
You expect it, bow beneath
the blow. Yet again. And you weep.
This idiocy of love is tacky.
I fetch and carry;
I wait to be chosen,
reschedule my life for you.
No coat of many colors,
no gold for my fingers,
no sandals for my feet,
no fatted calf to bleed for me,
no harp to pluck for joy.
This son has yet to dance with friends
around a pot of goat stew.
Him you have loved, him.
No, I will not come in.
Answers:
1) What is the evidence of the elder son's bitterness in the first stanza?
The elder son can only refer to his younger brother with sarcasm and contempt. "Stud the Magnificent" suggests sexual immorality, an over-estimation of his sexual prowess, in fact an over-estimation of his abilities in general. "Himself" (which reappears sometimes just as "him" in later stanzas) also sarcastically attacks the younger son's arrogance. Then there is the contempt for the brother, especially the insinuation that the brother's actions have been deceitful. Worse yet is the elder son's contempt for his father, criticizing the gifts, the celebration, and even his father's merciful love for the prodigal.
2) How does the elder son evaluate the younger son's motives?
The charge of deceitfulness on the part of the younger son continues in the second stanza, and the older son continues to use it as an attack on the character of the father even more than on the younger son.
3) What is the meaning of the phrase "This idiocy of love"?
This is my favorite phrase in this poem. What is meant by the older son as an open attack on the father for his compassionate response to the younger son's return, what appears "tacky" at best to the world, turns out to be, from a Christian perspective, a brilliant description of God's prodigal (extravagant) grace, his manic mercy, his foolish forgiveness.
4) What is the basis of the elder son's bitterness in the last stanzas?
As in the parable itself, the older son complains that, unlike the younger son, 1) he has toiled like a slave for his father, 2) he has never been given gifts, even lesser gifts, and 3) he is not loved by the father.
1) What is the evidence of the elder son's bitterness in the first stanza?
The elder son can only refer to his younger brother with sarcasm and contempt. "Stud the Magnificent" suggests sexual immorality, an over-estimation of his sexual prowess, in fact an over-estimation of his abilities in general. "Himself" (which reappears sometimes just as "him" in later stanzas) also sarcastically attacks the younger son's arrogance. Then there is the contempt for the brother, especially the insinuation that the brother's actions have been deceitful. Worse yet is the elder son's contempt for his father, criticizing the gifts, the celebration, and even his father's merciful love for the prodigal.
2) How does the elder son evaluate the younger son's motives?
The charge of deceitfulness on the part of the younger son continues in the second stanza, and the older son continues to use it as an attack on the character of the father even more than on the younger son.
3) What is the meaning of the phrase "This idiocy of love"?
This is my favorite phrase in this poem. What is meant by the older son as an open attack on the father for his compassionate response to the younger son's return, what appears "tacky" at best to the world, turns out to be, from a Christian perspective, a brilliant description of God's prodigal (extravagant) grace, his manic mercy, his foolish forgiveness.
4) What is the basis of the elder son's bitterness in the last stanzas?
As in the parable itself, the older son complains that, unlike the younger son, 1) he has toiled like a slave for his father, 2) he has never been given gifts, even lesser gifts, and 3) he is not loved by the father.
The Father of the Elder Son
"But we had to celebrate."--Luke 15:3
Son, you are always with me.
All my pastures, granges, granaries,
all are yours, have ever been.
You know you are my very self.
But for the living owner
I did not blow the ram's horn.
You are right, of course:
my love is tacky, untidy.
But you mistake to balance love,
to measure by level tablespoons,
like a chemist weighing arsenic.
No excess.--You were never dead.
When the grave throws up a son
there is a commotion of love,
a proper father malady,
like three riots in the heart.
We dance, we sing, we lift
our cups, because we must.
Now I blow the ram's horn.
"But we had to celebrate."--Luke 15:3
Son, you are always with me.
All my pastures, granges, granaries,
all are yours, have ever been.
You know you are my very self.
But for the living owner
I did not blow the ram's horn.
You are right, of course:
my love is tacky, untidy.
But you mistake to balance love,
to measure by level tablespoons,
like a chemist weighing arsenic.
No excess.--You were never dead.
When the grave throws up a son
there is a commotion of love,
a proper father malady,
like three riots in the heart.
We dance, we sing, we lift
our cups, because we must.
Now I blow the ram's horn.
Answers:
1) Why hadn't the father blown the ram's horn before?
The ram's horn or shofar was blown by Jewish priests on numerous special occasions. But given its important connection with Yom Kippur and the Jubilee Year, the metaphor is especially appropriate here. Yom Kippur celebrated the day God forgave the people of their sins. During the Jubilee year debts were forgiven and slaves were given their freedom. Why hadn't the father blown the ram's horn during the older son's long years of loyal service? Because he had no sins or debts that needed forgiveness and because (at least from the father's perspective) the older son did not to be remitted from slavery. The younger son on the other hand did.
2) What do you make of the father's confession of showing "untidy love"?
God's love is not level, not even, as the poem puts it. Some people have more need of forgiveness than others, at least on the surface. It often appears extravagant, prodigal, wasteful, tacky, untidy. On the other hand, perhaps the father of this poem is unaware that the older son needs grace just as much and just as much grace as the younger. All have sinned and fall short….
3) What does the father think is the elder son's error?
The father thinks that the older son has missed precisely this point, the prodigality of his (God's) love. Even though a doctor would give more immediate attention to a dying patient than one who is well, she hopefully cares equally for the health of both.
4) What do you make of the phrase "a commotion of love"?
This phrase forms a nice companion to "the idiocy of love." The older son's anger had originally arisen in reaction to the "commotion" of music and dancing he heard as he came in from the fields. Once again the father makes no excuses--when a lost son is found, celebration is a necessity.
1) Why hadn't the father blown the ram's horn before?
The ram's horn or shofar was blown by Jewish priests on numerous special occasions. But given its important connection with Yom Kippur and the Jubilee Year, the metaphor is especially appropriate here. Yom Kippur celebrated the day God forgave the people of their sins. During the Jubilee year debts were forgiven and slaves were given their freedom. Why hadn't the father blown the ram's horn during the older son's long years of loyal service? Because he had no sins or debts that needed forgiveness and because (at least from the father's perspective) the older son did not to be remitted from slavery. The younger son on the other hand did.
2) What do you make of the father's confession of showing "untidy love"?
God's love is not level, not even, as the poem puts it. Some people have more need of forgiveness than others, at least on the surface. It often appears extravagant, prodigal, wasteful, tacky, untidy. On the other hand, perhaps the father of this poem is unaware that the older son needs grace just as much and just as much grace as the younger. All have sinned and fall short….
3) What does the father think is the elder son's error?
The father thinks that the older son has missed precisely this point, the prodigality of his (God's) love. Even though a doctor would give more immediate attention to a dying patient than one who is well, she hopefully cares equally for the health of both.
4) What do you make of the phrase "a commotion of love"?
This phrase forms a nice companion to "the idiocy of love." The older son's anger had originally arisen in reaction to the "commotion" of music and dancing he heard as he came in from the fields. Once again the father makes no excuses--when a lost son is found, celebration is a necessity.
