The poem begins with the Speaker stating “My parents are waiting for me somewhere just past Eden Rock.” It is evident that there is a time pressure, as they seem to be keen on having the Speaker join their picnic on the other side of the river.
The Speaker goes on to describe their parents in great detail, noting the “patterned suit [the father] always wore” and the golden gleam of the mother’s hair, that is “yellow colour as wheat.”
There is a sense of familiarity of their actions, as the Speaker stresses the use of “our usual three plates” and “the blue-painted cups we always use.” In this way, it can be deduced that this is a memory with underlying surrealism.
Suddenly, the mother looks over at the Speaker and the parents “gesture towards a path.” The Speaker notes that “getting across the stream will be easier than I think it is” and that death “isn't how I thought it would be.”
