The Skies Can’t Keep Their Secret!
poem 191
The Skies Can’t Keep Their Secret! - meaning Summary
Secrets of Sky and Season
The speaker observes nature as communal and talkative—skies tell hills, hills tell orchards, and a bird might overhear secrets. Temptation to learn more appears but is resisted; the speaker prefers withholding inquiry to preserve mystery. Questions about whether summer could be an "axiom" and what that would mean for snow underline the poem’s theme: curiosity balanced by reverence. Addressing "Father," the speaker declines knowledge of the creator’s private workings.
Read Complete AnalysesThe Skies can’t keep their secret! They tell it to the Hills The Hills just tell the Orchards And they the Daffodils! A Bird by chance that goes that way Soft overhears the whole If I should bribe the little Bird Who knows but she would tell? I think I won’t however It’s finer not to know If Summer were an Axiom What sorcery had Snow? So keep your secret Father! I would not if I could, Know what the Sapphire Fellows, do, In your new-fashioned world!
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