When I first read this poem I was confused by the lack of quotation marks and I needed a second take to realise that this is a dialogue between the ghost of a mariner and his widow in which they speak alternate lines, beginning with the ghost. The idea of a such a dialogue between the dead lover and the suriving partner is not new, of course – compare A.E.Housman’s ‘Is my team ploughing?’ (see week 642) – but Stevie Smith gives it her characteristically unique flavour by lulling the reader with singsong cadences before springing the trap in the last line: no, this is rather more than a slightly eccentric piece of whimsy.

The Sea-widow

How fares it with you, Mrs Cooper my bride?
Long are the years since you lay by my side.
Do you wish I was back? Do you speak of me dearest?
I wish you were back for me to hold nearest.
Who then lies nearer, Mrs Cooper my bride?
A black man comes in with the evening tide.
What is his name? Tell me! How does he dare?
He comes uninvited. His name is Despair.

Stevie Smith