Glassed with cold sleep and dazzled by the moon,
out of the confused hammering dark of the train
The opening lines of the poem establish the setting as a train traveling through a moonlit landscape. The speaker's state of consciousness is ambiguous; though she is "Glassed with cold sleep," she is still aware of her surroundings. The word "glassed" suggests a barrier that somehow separates the speaker from the landscape, and yet the speaker is still able to connect to the landscape via her senses and thoughts. To be "dazzled" by something indicates an admiration that inhibits one's senses, further contributing to the poem's dreamlike and surreal atmosphere. The "confused hammering dark of the train" could indicate the speaker's own internal state and the way in which she longs to commune with the nature outside the train.
Clench down your strength, box-tree and ironbark.
Break with your violent root the virgin rock.
Draw from the flying dark its breath of dew
till the unliving come to life in you.
The first two lines in this section are widely understood as examples of gendered violence. In this reading, the speaker urges the trees to embody a masculine strength. The violent roots have a phallic quality to them, and the "virgin rock" belongs to the body of the personified land, (earlier established as a woman). In the next lines, however, it seems that the speaker is acknowledging the necessity of violence to ensure survival in this harsh landscape. In order for the trees to live, they must act forcefully in this dry and difficult environment. If the trees insist upon their growth by breaking the hardened ground, then they will be able to create life in the barren landscape. The mention of breath and dew contrasts with the dryness and harshness outlined earlier. This suggests hope for the trees not just to survive, but to thrive.
I woke and saw the dark small trees that burn
suddenly into flowers more lovely that the white moon.
Though the speaker apparently awakens in these last lines, this final image is the most surreal in the poem. All the prior descriptions of the landscape and the trees are differentiated by the fact that the speaker was more asleep than awake. Despite the fact that the trees are dark and small (suggesting their fragility), the speaker witnesses a transformation that imparts a profound sense of beauty and mystery. The speaker's relationship to the landscape, first characterized by concern, shifts to one of appreciation.
