Face we the day when we go up to stake our graces
Against unconquerable God.
Merton urges his readers to consider the day when we all meet our proverbial “Maker.” He talks about the landscape of life and how we must all eventually face our absolution before God. He refers to God as unconquerable. In this way, he suggests that God is the all-knowing and all-powerful being. Despite our best efforts, despite what we may think, God cannot be tricked. And we must bear this in mind when we meet him face-to-face on that fateful day.
As for the liar, fear him less
Than one who thinks himself sincere
Who, having deceived himself,
Can deceive you with a good conscience.
In these opening lines, Merton points out the difference between lying and insincerity. He suggests that liars are worse than those who are insincere because liars know they are spinning tales that are not truthful. Those who think themselves sincere have not only mastered the art of deceiving others, but of deceiving themselves. Merton argues that those who are capable of deceiving themselves are far more dangerous than those who are in the trade of deceiving solely others. In this way, Merton is powerfully suggesting that insincerity is one of the worst and most dangerous disservices anyone can do to themselves or anyone else.
Keep away, son, these lakes are salt.
These flowers
Eat insects.
In this stanza, which opens the poem, Merton speaks to the dangers of alluring and deceiving pleasures of life. He warns his reader that the lakes, which appear beautiful and silky smooth, are actually full of salt—which burns and wears away. The flowers, though similar in their outward beauty and simplicity, are actually carnivorous. In this way, Merton is warning his readers that all is not what it seems. He wants them to be wary of the seemingly simple beauty around them.
Let us forget that it is spring and
Celebrate the riderless will of five victims.
In these opening lines, Merton points out the fact that, even in the midst of tragedy, life continues on. He comments on the season and urges his readers to forget the beauty of the spring and instead take a moment to mourn the losses of five old ladies who were recently killed in a car accident. He suggests that, even though the season of spring is beautiful and carefree, everyone should take a moment to ignore the beauty and think about the memories of these women. He’s paying tribute to their lives and deaths.
Europe is a feast
For every bloody beast.
Merton suggests that Europe is the seat and source of all war. He uses the metaphors of feasts and beasts to portray the evil leaders of the world. He intimates that Europe is where the most evil figures in the world come to “dine”—to wage war. These leaders are the beasts that he refers to and the conflicts/societal divisions are the feasts that he refers to. Merton firmly believes that Europe is the source of the world’s greatest and most severe conflicts.
But never give us any explanations, even when we ask,
Why all our food tastes of iodoform,
And even the freshest flowers smell of funerals.
In these concluding lines, Merton refers to the two different sides of New York. Though he previously described the appeals of New York and its fast-paced, anonymous settings, he now points out that New York is deceptive. Though it presents its flamboyant and affluent lifestyle, it does not explain the more disturbing aspects of its existence. As Merton points out, New York never explains how its food tastes like its tainted with iodoform, a lethal substance with a pungent and repulsive smell. He points out that New York also never manages to explain how even its flowers, something that should be a source of beauty and light, always smell like death. In this way, Merton points out that New York is not nearly as glamorous as it claims to be.
The brazen sedan was not to be trusted.
The wheels went too well for one short and straight journey.
It was the last: the doors did not open.
In this stanza, Merton describes the events that contributed to the old women's deaths. He explains that their deaths were partly caused by the faulty sedan the old women were driving in. When they rolled across the lawn and started to sink into the lake, its doors did not open, but rather remained closed—trapping the women in a water tomb. He comments on the irony that the car did what it was supposed to do: it kept its passengers in and drove them where they needed to go. Its effectiveness, however, is what ultimately sealed their doom.
