Hunter’s Lullaby
Hunter’s Lullaby - meaning Summary
Absent Father as Hunter
The poem portrays a father who has gone "a-hunting," a recurring figure whose absence leaves family vulnerable and unprotected. The hunting functions as a metaphor for a journey into danger, greed, or moral blindness that others — wife, child, spirit — cannot follow. Refrains emphasize separation, loss of guardianship, and finality. The speaker accepts the father’s departure and the helplessness it imposes rather than attempting to stop him.
Read Complete AnalysesYour father's gone a-hunting He's deep in the forest so wild And he cannot take his wife with him He cannot take his child Your father's gone a-hunting In the quicksand and the clay And a woman cannot follow him Although she knows the way Your father's gone a-hunting Through the silver and the glass Where only greed can enter But spirit, spirit cannot pass Your father's gone a-hunting For the beast he'll never bind And he leaves a baby sleeping And his blessings all behind Your father's gone a-hunting And he's lost his lucky charm And he's lost the guardian heart That keeps the hunter from the harm Your father's gone a-hunting He asked me to say goodbye And he warned me not to stop him I wouldn't, I wouldn't even try
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