Kathy Fagan's Visitation, is a poem with a lot of symbolism that can easily be disregarded as irrelevant because of lack of attention to minor details. The poem expresses a sense of an epiphany, a moment of truth. It speaks about both the arrival (visitation) and the departure of something or someone. Everyone and everything dies; nothing last forever. The Visitation is and should be treated as a special moment, for it only last a while. .
I consider Visitation a deeply felt poem because when I read it I envision different scenes in which a visitation occurs. Referring to Kathy Fagan, I can understand why she would write a poem as such. Its as if she's conveying her own life in the poetry and trying to hide it all at once. I view the Visitation as a poem that speaks out about how every little thing in this life, in our life is a visitation; A visitation that reminds us that we exist. Though sometimes we tend to ignore certain things that occur, we do it unconsciously because we don't realize the extent of its greatness. .
"On the horizon now a kind of golden .
gate of sunset. To visit .
means to both comfort and afflict, .
though neither lasts long.".
The way that I would interpret the above quote is that a horizon is a new beginning and the golden gate of sunset is like a gate of opportunity and happiness. I believe that it's the "horizon of heaven". It's like a visitation because a visitation requires an entrance of some sort and the gates are the entryway to a new world. The symbolism of the gate is leaning more to the protection and guidance that it can offer. I once read in Psychology and Alchemy that doors are feminine symbols. In the case, a gate can be the same as a door, and Kathy Fagan is a female. There is some kind of connection. A visitation can bring joy, pain, sorrow, happiness, and so many different things. The main point though, is that it brings something. Kathy Fagan's visitation was probably the birth of her poetry.
