Another Winter Vision

Thank you for such an engaging poem.

The poet speaks first of a “Vision,” sort of like shouting LOOK! But then immediately warns against looking too closely or deeply, as if to say ‘take a look’ but only where I want you to look, see what I want you see, follow the path, even though the end of it is cold and bloody.

And then, ‘…not to be decoded‘ orders the speaker! Yet here are some synonyms for “decode:” “Break, clear up, crack, decrypt, figure out, find the solution, interpret, make clear, read, solve, translate, unravel, unriddle, unscramble, untangle, work out.” I resist attempts to “prescribe” *how to read a poem* (including ones in the poems themselves).

I would guess that “pre-scribe” means to ‘write before hand,‘ that is, perhaps, to make rules, to set limits, to control?

Among these synonyms for “decode,” is “decrypt,” which is related to “apocrypha,” ‘a secret hidden away.‘

Much poetry is apocryphal (and should remain so).

These kinds of tensions make the poem interesting for me, keep me reading and open to experiencing the language in new ways, like the pluralized “shades” (without really offering any?). Through the poem we are given simple, elemental colors, purple, bronze, red, but here at the end will the wondering souls find complexion they are searching for? Who knows? Obliged.