I can become parcel of this sacred ground?
To pretend that I am a strong wind
to guide your ever sturdy wings
Who am I to change this persistent blue rain?
To pretend that I can wash the sorrows away
from your ever beating heart
Who am I to care for this mortified soul?
To pretend that sanctity ascends in my
figureless touch…
I am none. Transcending only the littlest of
existence only meager eyes could see.
In the skies I plead alms
to catch your merciful grace;
To rescue me from this lonesome cloud of misery
that I call self
I am ceaselessly yours.
Analysis, Meaning, Critique
The obvious question here is this: who is the poet speaking to? To understand this poem, you have to discern and define to whom (or to what) he's speaking to. Is he speaking to a lover? Is he speaking to a loved one who is not necessarily a lover (i.e. a son, a daughter, a friend, a neighbor)? Or is he speaking to a higher being like a god or a spiritual guide? Is he speaking to the universe at large? Or maybe he's speaking to an imagined someone or an imagined thing?
To analyze this poem, you have to start with the above question and decide for yourself to whom (or to what) the speaker/poet is speaking to. It will be a lot easier to try to understand why the poet is feeling the way he does if you have decided on who he's speaking to.
No matter how you decide who the poet is speaking to, it's obvious from the poem that the speaker feels unworthy in front of of the person or thing he's speaking to. He's speaking almost in complete shame and ends the poem with the line "I am ceaselessly yours" which is basically an proclamation of surrender.
There are several words in the poem which can be described as religious words. These words make some readers believe that the speaker in the poem is talking to a religious god. These words appear in the poem: sacred, soul, alms, merciful, grace, sanctity. These are very common words in religious parlance. So yes, maybe the narrator in the poem is speaking to a god.
Definitions:
1. mortified - subdued by self denial or discipline
2. sacred - connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration
3. transcend - be or go beyond the range or limits of (something abstract, typically a conceptual field or division)
4. meager - (of something provided or available) lacking in quantity or quality
5. sanctity - the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly
