I Know You Walk
I Know You Walk - meaning Summary
Haunted by a Lost Love
The speaker confesses a recurring dread of meeting a woman from his past while walking the streets at night. He imagines her reduced and wandering in a shabby dress, earning money and looking miserable, and fears confronting her visible grief and his own responsibility. The poem traces guilt, shame, and the distance between memory and present reality, closing on the image of her endless, homeless walking.
Read Complete AnalysesI walk so often, late, along the streets, lower my gaze, and hurry, full of dread, suddenly, silently, you still might rise and I would have to gaze on all your grief with my own eyes, while you demand your happiness, that's dead. I know, you walk beyond me, every night, with a coy footfall, in a wretched dress and walk for money, looking miserable! Your shoes gather God knows what ugly mess, the wind plays in your hair with lewd delight -- You walk, and walk, and find no home at all.
Translated by James Wright
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