prime

[Baba May]

Hi!

In the poem "Letter from Mama Dot" by Fred D'Aguiar, the poet uses the word "prime": "the final sleep / More and more of us meet in our prime".

Does it mean "the early hours" or "youth"? Or "spring"? Which one does make more sense in the given context? Is it a suggestion that more and more of us die young?

The Jackdaw's Nest: More Poems by Caribbean Poets

Baba May

 

[lingobingo]

The final sleep [that] more and more of us meet in our prime = the death that comes to more and more people just when they are at the best stage of their life

 

[Baba May]

Thank you, lingobingo