"To lie on a beach after
looking at old poems: how
slow untroubled by any
grouch of mine or yours, Father
Ocean tumbles in the bay
alike with solitary."
Here, Baxter sets the scene of this poem, which is a beach. The coastal setting suggests a sense of calm contemplation, and also suggests transformation. This stanza generally has a reflective tone, as the speaker reflects on the slow ebb and flow of the waves. The fact that the waves are personified as a "father" who is "slow" and "untroubled" suggests the comforting impact of nature and the fact that the universe is unaware and impartial about human problems. This comes as a comfort to the speaker, who can relax and detach from his own emotions.
"I praise that
sad boy now, who having no
hope, did not blow out his brains."
Earlier in the poem, the speaker describes himself as an adolescent: "that sad boy I was, thoughts crusted with ice, on the treadmill of self-love." As he reflects on his life and nature, the speaker thinks about his younger self, and praises himself for not taking his life despite the fact he had no hope. This is a suggestion that the speaker now has a sense of hope and tranquility, and is glad that he didn't give up. The shocking and sudden image present in the last line of the poem disrupts the otherwise calm and contemplative tone of the poem.
"Through earth-black smouldering ashes
And maimed bees groaning, we drew out our plunder.
Little enough their gold, and slight our joy."
In the poem Wild Bees, Baxter describes the act of smoking out a bees nest in order to get honey. This whole encounter is described as being like a battle between the men and the bees, and this extract uses that kind of imagery. The bees are described as "maimed" like wounded soldiers, and the speaker describes the honey they managed to find as being "plunder."
