I find these words especially beautiful to the ear and evocative in imagery and feeling. Without being tied to any specific persons or events, I think they express some standard Bird themes.
In the opening stanza, he evokes a fallen state where "we" have lost our voice to others, where we are isolated from loved ones, and where we are offered a false good. I love the "light-filled eye" image, and while it's beautiful in itself, it evokes a sense of grace or knowledge attained (presumably by rejecting the sour milk).
In the second stanza, he conjures up what I think of as the "shadowy forces" he referred to somewhere when speaking about a vague narrative thread running through The Mysterious Production of Eggs. "They" are associated with stealth (entering from the back), violence (spears), power (secepters), and restraint/control (sacks). They're vague and not fully formed, and the "scribs and tangles" in their heads evoke confused or messed-up thinking.
The third stanza evokes passage through shadowy, prickly growth into a fold. I can see this as either the above "they" leading the "us" of the first stanza into captivity; or I can also see it as the "us" passing through danger into safety (which I prefer).
I find these words especially beautiful to the ear and evocative in imagery and feeling. Without being tied to any specific persons or events, I think they express some standard Bird themes.
In the opening stanza, he evokes a fallen state where "we" have lost our voice to others, where we are isolated from loved ones, and where we are offered a false good. I love the "light-filled eye" image, and while it's beautiful in itself, it evokes a sense of grace or knowledge attained (presumably by rejecting the sour milk).
In the second stanza, he conjures up what I think of as the "shadowy forces" he referred to somewhere when speaking about a vague narrative thread running through The Mysterious Production of Eggs. "They" are associated with stealth (entering from the back), violence (spears), power (secepters), and restraint/control (sacks). They're vague and not fully formed, and the "scribs and tangles" in their heads evoke confused or messed-up thinking.
The third stanza evokes passage through shadowy, prickly growth into a fold. I can see this as either the above "they" leading the "us" of the first stanza into captivity; or I can also see it as the "us" passing through danger into safety (which I prefer).