Sign Inventory week 6

The River of Bees

William Stanley Merwin

In a dream I returned to the river of bees
Five orange trees by the bridge and
beside two mills myhouse

Into whose courtyard a blind man followed
The goats and stood singing
Of what was older

Soon it will be fifteen years

He was old he will have fallen into his eyes

I took my eyes
A long way to the calendars
Room after room asking how shall I live

One of the ends is made of streets
One man processions carry through it
Empty bottles their
Image of hope
It was offered to me by name

Once once and once
In the same city I was born
Asking what shall I say

He will have fallen into his mouth
Men think they are better than grass

I return to his voice rising like a forkful of hay

He was old he was not real nothing is real
Nor the noise of death drawing water

We are the echo of the future

On the door it says what to do to survive
But we were not meant to survive
Only to live

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 Inventory

*The poem exhibits a preoccupation with the passage of time (ex. "The goats stood singing/ of what was older"; "soon it will be fifteen years"; "he was old", the speaker travels "a long way to the calendars"; "we are the echo of the future")

*Alongside this concern with passing time is a fixation with aging. For instance, "he was old" appears twice in the text--also, "the blind man" sings "of what was older."

*Additionally (and perhaps this can all be ONE large multi-faceted sign), this preoccupation with time and aging develops into a concentration on mortality in the last 5 stanzas. (Ex. "nor the noise of death drawing water," "we were not born to survive/ only to live," ""in the same city I was born"

*The poem centers around the number/word/ idea of "one" ( literally, as this sign appears only in the two middle stanzas. (ex. "one of the ends is made of streets," "one man processions," "once once and once" Interesting, this fascination with "one," especially in a poem that is largely concentrated with the passage of years on a large scale.

*I see the poem also concerned with this idea of, what I want to call "repetition"--but that's not the right word. Perhaps "revisitation"?? Anyway, the poem seems to be hinged upon this idea. (ex. the opening line of the poem is "In a dream I returned to the river of bees," the "blind man" "sings of what was older"--perhaps implying a sort of "revisiting" of the past?; the speaker also visits "the same city I was born" ; "I return to his voice rising like a forkful of hay"; also, the line "we are the echo of future" carries itself on this idea of "an echo." Fascinating also because this is a poem already so concerned with the nature of time and aging and death!

*Also, in the middle of the poem there's this strange moment where "men think they are better than grass" immediately followed in the next line by " I return to his voice rising like a forkful of hay." So, we have this image of man's idea of the natural world, instantly followed by this image of "hay" which is dried, dead grass as fodder. Strange little juxtaposition perhaps connected to a larger sign working its way through here.

* As maybe a facet of the previous sign, I noticed that nearly every mention of the natural world aligns itself with the commodization of it! For instance, the speaker travels to the river of "bees"--whom are farmed and maintained for honey production; next is the mention of "five orange trees," followed by the mention of "two mills" ; then we have "a blind man following goats."   This seems like it might be a stretch, but I think it could work here.