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affection and a long period of absence and silence when she says," as he'd just staggered off the
boat at Ellis Island/ like she'd been released at last from ICU." (8-9) The vivid description by the
author helps to build the imagination of the feeling the two individuals had at that particular
moment.
The second stanza talks about their age and the fact that the woman weighed a little
heavy yet this did not deter them from having their best moments, it shows how love beats all
odds. It starts with a light tone, but the imagery gives life to the poem when the author talks
about their continued kissing relating the movement to those of ocean in the morning how it
moves back and forth from the shore. It is more of a symbolic gesture to their current situation as
they are at an airport where passengers are boarding and alighting. The onlookers, as the poet
writes, “We couldn't look away. We could taste the kisses crushed in our mouths" (22-23)
symbolizes how the feeling of love can be overwhelming.
The last stanza encompasses the overall feeling of the husband towards his wife. His
smile brings out his amusement, despite the flaws he still loved her. As the author writes," what
happened after-if she beat you, or you're lonely now-you once lay there, the vemix not yet wiped
off and someone gazed at you as if you were the first sunrise from Earth." (28-31)
Gate C22 poem shows how two people can achieve immense love from one another.
Unlike in The Clod and Pebble which talks about how selfish love can be and one usually has to
live under the shadows based on Pebble's view, "Love seeketh only self to please, To bind
another to its delight, Joys in another's loss of ease, And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite” (9-
11). Here the Pebble believes that love is one-sided and thus hardly benefits the two.
