Here in This Spring
Here in This Spring - meaning Summary
Seasons Teach Fragile Knowledge
The poem considers how humans try to read nature’s signs—seasons, birds, worms, slugs—to understand time, change and mortality. The speaker notes symbolic overlap between seasons and animals, then questions whether those living calendars can truly instruct him about endings. The tone moves from observation to doubt as the poem asks what authority remains when small creatures, not clocks, mark decay and the world’s wearing away.
Read Complete AnalysesHere in this spring, stars float along the void; Here in this ornamental winter Down pelts the naked weather; This summer buries a spring bird. Symbols are selected from the years' Slow rounding of four seasons' coasts, In autumn teach three seasons' fires And four birds' notes. I should tell summer from the trees, the worms Tell, if at all, the winter's storms Or the funeral of the sun; I should learn spring by the cuckooing, And the slug should teach me destruction. A worm tells summer better than the clock, The slug's a living calendar of days; What shall it tell me if a timeless insect Says the world wears away?
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