War and Political Turmoil
The conflict that led the speaker to leave her country as a child remains unnamed, and so this poem speaks for anyone forced to emigrate because of war and tyranny. War leaves its mark on a place, as shown by the opening line of the poem, “There was once a country…” The speaker’s country of origin will never be the same as it once was. War warps everything from the economy to the land. Because the speaker has no passport, she is barred from entering. The rule of tyrants makes the country “sick.” However, none of this can completely sever the speaker’s connection to her country. She remains “branded by an impression of sunlight.”
Memory and Imagination
Unable to return to her country, the speaker encounters her city of origin as a personified being inside of her own mind. War and dictatorial rule prevent the speaker from traveling to her home country, so all she has access to are her memories and imagination. Remembering and imagining her country are a source of great comfort to the speaker. She compares her view of her country to a paperweight: it is something that holds her in place though there is still a heaviness involved in her recollection. However, even when she imagines being accused of absence and darkness, she sees her city as a source of light and warmth.
Language and Relationships
Because the speaker left her country as a child, she only has a “child’s vocabulary” of her native language. At the time of her leaving, she carried this language like a “hollow doll,” meaning that it was an insufficient companion. But for the speaker as an adult, this language tastes of sunlight—it connects her to her origins.
The speaker’s grasp on her childhood language also opens a whole new way of being in the world. The main purposes of language are communication and expression. Language allows human beings to relate to and connect with one another, which are primal needs. The speaker describes her intention to grasp every “coloured molecule” that makes up her native language. Even if she learns the entirety of this language, external political forces have banned it, making it even more difficult for the speaker to connect to her origins.
