W.H. Auden - If I Could Tell You
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- The Talkative Crow reading "If I Could Tell You" by W.H. Auden.
Time 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.
I have no idea what this poem means, but it sure sounds nice.
The poem was written in (I think) 1940, and it is easy to see it as his thoughts and anxiety on the unfolding events of World War II. Personally, I suspect it is also a general statement on the limits of what we mere mortals can understand or know, and only time has the answers available? Whatever his thoughts, it is a wonderful piece.
@@thetalkativecrow Thank you! I listened to it again with your interpretation and it all fell into place. Wonderful poem indeed. My problem, or part of it, was that I was reading the sentence "Time will say nothing but I told you so" wrong. I read it as "Time will say nothing; however, I (not time) had already told you before", which made no sense at all, lol.
@@thetalkativecrow Thank you! I listened to it again with your interpretation and it all fell into place. Wonderful poem indeed. My problem was that I was reading the line "Time will say nothing but I told you so" wrong. I read it as "Time will say nothing; however, I (not time) had already told you so before," which made no sense at all, lol.
(UA-cam is doing weird stuff with the comments. I posted this before, but my comment was hidden. Now that I post it again, both of my comments will show up, as you will see.)
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What this poem conveys is not clear to me.
The poem was written in (I think) 1940, and it is easy to see it as his thoughts and anxiety on the unfolding events of World War II. Personally, I suspect it is also a general statement on the limits of what we mere mortals can understand or know, and only time has the answers available? Whatever his thoughts, it is a wonderful piece.