The Gardener 44: We Have Been Made Immortal
The Gardener 44: We Have Been Made Immortal - meaning Summary
Brief, Stolen Immortality
The speaker apologizes to a reverent elder and explains that, for a few hours in spring, intimacy has suspended mortality and worldly duties. They ask to be left undisturbed by armies or well-wishers because their brief union feels like a private, overcrowded heaven where ordinary rules do not apply. The poem emphasizes a fleeting, shared transcendence against the bustle and claims of public life.
Read Complete AnalysesReverend sir, forgive this pair of sinners. Spring winds to-day are blowing in wild eddies, driving dust and dead leaves away, and with them your lessons are all lost. Do not say, father, that life is a vanity. For we have made truce with death for once, and only for a few fragrant hours we two have been made immortal. Even if the king's army came and fiercely fell upon us we should sadly shake our heads and say, Brothers, you are disturbing us. If you must have this noisy game, go and clatter your arms elsewhere. Since only for a few fleeting moments we have been made immortal. If friendly people came and flocked around us, we should humbly bow to them and say, This extravagant good fortune is an embarrassment to us. Room is scarce in the infinite sky where we dwell. For in the springtime flowers come in crowds, and the busy wings of bees jostle each other. Our little heaven, where dwell only we two immortals, is too absurdly narrow.
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