When I Go Alone at Night
When I Go Alone at Night - meaning Summary
Private Longing Made Visible
A speaker describes nocturnal visits to a beloved and the way external silence seems to amplify her private sensations. Empty streets, still water, and darkened lamps make her own anklets, heartbeat, and a glowing jewel at her breast feel conspicuously loud and visible. The poem concerns inward passion becoming outwardly apparent, the speaker’s shame and wonder at being exposed by her own body and emotions.
Read Complete AnalysesWhen I go alone at night to my love—tryst, birds do not sing, the wind does not stir, the houses on both sides of the street stand silent. It is my own anklets that grow loud at every step and I am ashamed. When I sit on my balcony and listen for his footsteps, leaves do not rustle on the trees, and the water is still in the river like the sword on the knees of a sentry fallen asleep. It is my own heart that beats wildly — I do not know how to quiet it. When my love comes and sits by my side, when my body trembles and my eyelids droop, the night darkens, the wind blows out the lamp, and the clouds draw veils over the stars. It is the jewel at my own breast that shines and gives light. I do not know how to hide it.
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