As if the notes they had sung
have only now, with this unearthing,
slipped from their absent tongues.
In this concluding stanza, the narrator explains that—though the resurrection of the soldiers’ bones and body parts is incredibly sobering—it is also a way for those lost souls to finally be laid to rest. This quotation captures how war has a way of capturing and forever keeping those individuals who were lost to it. When their remains are recovered, however—even partially—it frees the deceased individual and also helps to provide family members with a better sense of closure.
Folding her back leg with one arm, he leans into her flank
like a man putting his shoulder to a knackered car,
catches the hoof between his knees [...].
In this quotation, the narrator helps to characterize the farrier a bit more. He/she likens the farrier to an individual who fixes cars. This comparison—of cars to horses—helps to characterize horseshoe-mending and horse-tending as an art and a trade, one that is valuable and requires precision. The narrator aims to show how the farrier’s job requires as much precision, accuracy, and care as an automobile mender. The way the farrier tends to the horse with gentility and care shows how he or she clearly takes a vested interest in the job and cares both about the animals and the quality of work.
The still waters of your skin broken, the volte engaging
as we make our marks like lovers who carve trees,
the equation of their names equalled by an arrow
that buckles under time but never leaves,
and so though changed, under
the bark, the skin, the loving scar remains.
After recalling a particularly lust-filled night, the narrator explains that the memories and evidence when they had sex on the floor are and will be permanently traced into the woman’s back. In this quotation, the narrator explains that the mark on his lover’s back is fading. Despite this however, the mark will always remain there, even if it fades. In this way, the narrator is making sure that the physical reminder on his lover’s back will always remind the both of them of this lustful night. He likens the mark on the woman’s back to a carving in a tree. Though the carving on the tree will fade with each passing year, as new bark breaks through, it will never disappear completely. Rather, some faint semblance of the mark will always remain—will always serve as a reminder of the two individuals who carved it there. In this way, it is clear that—though the physical marks on the woman’s back may fade with time—the memory will always remain and the scars will always be there, no matter how fate.
And even now the earth stands sentinel,
reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened
like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin.
In this stanza, the narrator likens the Earth to a guard on watch and notes that the Earth is still turning up reminders of the terrible war, which makes citizens unable to forget the hardships and horrors that occurred there. This short stanza captures the way that wars leave both an emotional and physical impression on the world. This particular battle will not be forgotten due to the fact that the physical evidence of horror and death refuse to be contained within the Earth.
