Love Song (V2)
Version 2
Love Song (V2) - meaning Summary
Love as Overwhelming Stain
The speaker addresses an anticipated meeting while dwelling on an all-consuming love that has transformed perception. Love appears as a pervasive, honeyed yellow stain that spoils and saturates the natural world, lifting and isolating the speaker simultaneously. Physical, sensory images convey both weight and exaltation—nectar, dripping hair, starlings—culminating in a vulnerable question about whether this intensity can be repeated. The poem balances wonder, excess, and uncertainty.
Read Complete AnalysesWhat have I to say to you When we shall meet? Yet— I lie here thinking of you. The stain of love Is upon the world. Yellow, yellow, yellow, It eats into the leaves, Smears with saffron The horned branches that lean Heavily Against a smooth purple sky. There is no light— Only a honey-thick stain That drips from leaf to leaf And limb to limb Spoiling the colours Of the whole world. I am alone. The weight of love Has buoyed me up Till my head Knocks against the sky. See me! My hair is dripping with nectar— Starlings carry it On their black wings. See, at last My arms and my hands Are lying idle. How can I tell If I shall ever love you again As I do now?
This is the 1917 book version of William Carlos Williams’s “Love Song,” collected in Al Que Quiere! It revises the 1916 Poetry magazine text that began “What have I to say to you / When we shall meet?”, removing the prelude and compressing the ending. Most anthologies and reputable sites follow this version.
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