If I Could Tell You
If I Could Tell You - meaning Summary
Time's Indifferent Refrain
Auden’s poem confronts the limits of human knowledge and the quiet authority of time. Through repeated hypotheticals—clowns, roses, lions, soldiers—the speaker imagines surprising changes yet accepts that time will only reiterate its verdict. The speaker also expresses an untransmittable personal feeling: a desire to tell someone something important but an inability to do so. The refrain combines resignation with a tender, private claim about love and certainty.
Read Complete AnalysesTime will say nothing but I told you so, Time only knows the price we have to pay; If I could tell you I would let you know. If we should weep when clowns put on their show, If we should stumble when musicians play, Time will say nothing but I told you so. There are no fortunes to be told, although, Because I love you more than I can say, If I could tell you I would let you know. The winds must come from somewhere when they blow, There must be reasons why the leaves decay; Time will say nothing but I told you so. Perhaps the roses really want to grow, The vision seriously intends to stay; If I could tell you I would let you know. Suppose all the lions get up and go, And all the brooks and soldiers run away; Will Time say nothing but I told you so? If I could tell you I would let you know.
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