This poem is about the glory of death. Instead of the typical mournful tone when writing about death, Adesina writes about death as something that should be celebrated. Overall, I interpret this poem to be about Adesina’s father who passed away along with things related to death. The poem starts out with “glory of plums”. Plums often represent vitality and new beginnings, so by saying glory in plums, Adesina is referring to life after death. The life after death may refer to Adesina’s father and the glory of going to Heaven, or it refers to Adesina’s life after his father passed and the new beginnings he is about to face. Lines two and three state there is a glory of ferns on a “dark platter”. Ferns represent growth, resilience and new life. The contrast of the glory of ferns and the dark platter conveys the mixed emotions when it comes to death. Adesina recognizes that there is a sense of glory in terms of growth and new life, but he also sees having to move on from his father as a darker part of his life. In the next stanza, Adesina refers to more things found in nature. To me, this nature motif represents life and death. The plants and insects mentioned are essentially born from the ground, and when a human dies, they are usually buried in the ground. This represents the circle of life and how there is beauty in life that can start and end in the ground. The glory of willows and stag beetles are mentioned, and just like all the previously mentioned plants and fruits, they both represent rebirth. The repetition of glory being associated with rebirth emphasizes that death can be celebrated as well as mourned. In the next line, the “obedience of the kingfisher” is mentioned. The kingfisher usually represents freedom and transformation. The kingfisher’s obedience suggests that there is glory in the way freedom and transformation wait until death takes place. To continue with the nature motif, Adesina mentions waterbirds. Waterbirds symbolize the interconnectedness of life and water. The next line states the “glory of thirst”. This stanza is recognizing the glory in life and death. Since waterbirds represent the connection between life and water, the glory of thirst must represent death since thirst comes from the absence of water. Moving on from the nature motifs, the next stanza is centered around Latin. Adesina continues to mention the glory of death because he states “glory of the Latin”. Latin is a dead language and is hardly ever used anymore. Continuing with the fourth stanza, Adesina refers to Latin as “the dead” and says that its grammar is “composed entirely of decay”. The mention of Latin’s grammar is used to further emphasize the glory of death. It is another mention of death that is preceded by glory. Furthermore, some perceive Latin as a language that has not died, but transformed. This is yet another nod to the thought that death is not the end. This next stanza is about Adesina’s father who passed. This stanza is what makes me think the poem is about his father. Adesina is trying to find glory in death because he wants to view his father’s passing in a positive light. He says “glory to the eyes of my father” which “closed inside his grave” when he died. This is yet another example of Adesina finding the glory in death. His father’s eyes closing in his grave shows that once he was placed in the ground, like the previously mentioned nature motifs, he was ready to transform. This idea is the glory in death. Adesina’s father’s eyes grew brighter inside Adesina because he was able to take his father’s death, and find the good in it. This not only transformed his father, but Adesina himself. Finally, Adesina mentions the glory of dark horses. This could represent a literal dark horse known as The Dark Horse of Death that appears when someone is about to die. Seeing glory in the dark horse represents anticipation for death because of the new beginnings death brings. Another interpretation of dark horse is the unexpected winner. This almost suggests that the one close to death is the actual winner. This would be unexpected because when one usually thinks of death, they think the opposite of winning. However, Adesina sees them as the winner because they are on their way to transformation, rebirth and new beginnings. This enforces the idea that Adesina sees death as something that should be celebrated as well as mourned.