Mother, any distance greater than a single span
requires a second pair of hands.
The first couplet in the poem introduces the poem's speaker and addressee: a son and his mother. It is not yet clear what distance they are measuring, just that the speaker can't measure it by himself. The use of trochees (a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable) gives these lines a bouncy and lively feel. The rhyme of "span" with "hands" is not a perfect rhyme because of the plural, and this reflects the imperfection in every relationship. The overall message in these lines is that there is only so much a person can do alone.
I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb
the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something
has to give
The description of space-walking suggests that the speaker feels like he is on a different planet, far from his mother; he is ready to forge his independence from her. However, astronauts are always connected to something via a safety rope. Even if the speaker emotionally feels a great deal of distance from his mother, there is still a suggestion in these lines of a cord connecting the two. The "breaking point" is where the nature of their relationship will change as the speaker becomes an adult. The upward movement through the house represents the years passing. All the while, the distance between the speaker and his mother grows.
...I reach
towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky
to fall or fly.
Here, the speaker is fast approaching adulthood (and thus his independence). The use of present tense shows that the speaker is not reminiscing, but rather actively becoming an adult. The speaker is aware that the world of adulthood is unknown territory, but he also expects the equal opportunities to "fall or fly." In other words, he does not know exactly what the future holds, but he knows he can fail or succeed in the world. The poem ends on a positive note with the word "fly," which suggests that the speaker is ready to embrace the unknown and live his own life.
