The Speaker

The speaker reconciles his desire to be free of pain with the understanding that pain is an inherent and unavoidable part of life. While speakers should not automatically be equated with the poet, the speaker in this case channels Orr’s practice of using language as a survival strategy. The speaker uses a metaphor to understand the impossibility of his desire to return to "the beginning," a time before pain. Even beginnings, such as where “water / Bubbles up / At the spring” are a type of wound (7-9). In other words, pain does not only underlie destruction, but also creation and beauty. By using natural phenomena to deepen his understanding, the speaker locates himself in relation to the rest of the world. This can also be seen when the speaker identifies himself with other humans in the line “We all do” (3).

All Humans

The speaker declares that the...