Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
Asleep on the black trunk,
Blowing like a leaf in green shadow,
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year’s horses
Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and come on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.
The first line can be interpreted as a double-edged axe (a bronze butterfly) in the air. The main character is probably a farmer working with an axe. The word “asleep” in the second line caught my attention. When people sleep, their heads rest on pillows. Then in this case the pillow can be the black trunk.
The next line could be referring to the axe. The axe is falling as a “leaf in green shadow.”
The fourth line “Down the ravine behind the empty house” can mean that the house was really far from the city and from the other people. Usually, cities are not constructed next to ravines. Only lonely people prefer to live next to a ravine.
“The cowbells follow one another into the distances of the afternoon.” This line represents the place where the events in the poem take place, which is in a rural place, or on a city farm.
According to my assumptions, the farmer’s head is over the trunk waiting for the axe to fall. Also, he is looking to his right, which could mean that he is staring at his future.
If the poem takes place on a farm, the waste of cows and horses is used to make fertilizers for the plants. The droppings of the animals are packed and stored for a while until they obtain an appropriate temperature. Perhaps those packaged were what the farmer saw when his head was resting over the trunk. The phrase “Blaze up into golden stones” can reinforce this supposition since dung is very precious for farmers.
When the farmer was beheaded, his body leaned back and everything became empty darkness. When the farmer’s head fell to the ground, he was looking at the sky. In that instant, he saw the chicken hawk, and he understood that he had wasted his life.
Asleep on the black trunk,
Blowing like a leaf in green shadow,
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year’s horses
Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and come on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.
The first line can be interpreted as a double-edged axe (a bronze butterfly) in the air. The main character is probably a farmer working with an axe. The word “asleep” in the second line caught my attention. When people sleep, their heads rest on pillows. Then in this case the pillow can be the black trunk.
The next line could be referring to the axe. The axe is falling as a “leaf in green shadow.”
The fourth line “Down the ravine behind the empty house” can mean that the house was really far from the city and from the other people. Usually, cities are not constructed next to ravines. Only lonely people prefer to live next to a ravine.
“The cowbells follow one another into the distances of the afternoon.” This line represents the place where the events in the poem take place, which is in a rural place, or on a city farm.
According to my assumptions, the farmer’s head is over the trunk waiting for the axe to fall. Also, he is looking to his right, which could mean that he is staring at his future.
If the poem takes place on a farm, the waste of cows and horses is used to make fertilizers for the plants. The droppings of the animals are packed and stored for a while until they obtain an appropriate temperature. Perhaps those packaged were what the farmer saw when his head was resting over the trunk. The phrase “Blaze up into golden stones” can reinforce this supposition since dung is very precious for farmers.
When the farmer was beheaded, his body leaned back and everything became empty darkness. When the farmer’s head fell to the ground, he was looking at the sky. In that instant, he saw the chicken hawk, and he understood that he had wasted his life.
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