Woman to Man by Judith Wright - Notes

Woman to Man by Judith Wright - Notes

POEM:

The eyeless labourer in the night ,
the selfless , shapeless seed I hold,
builds for its resurrection day- - -
silent and swift and deep from sight
foresees the unimagined light .

PARAPHRASE:

I, a woman, hold a seed in my womb which is shapeless and works selflessly, silently and swiftly without eyes or without opened eyes in the darkness of the womb which is deep inside away from anyone's sight where it always seems to be night. It works towards building itself and will keep on working uptil its day of birth which is referred as the child's resurrection day anticipating worldly light.

POEM:

This is no child with a child's face ;
this has no name to name it by ;
yet you and I have known it well .

PARAPHRASE:

This seed is not yet a child in its form with a face. This is unable to be named by something without knowing the child is a girl or a boy, or there is no need to name it, still. Nevertheless, myself and you, my husband, know it well without any name or form.

POEM:

This is our hunter and our chase ,
the third who lay in our embrace .

PARAPHRASE:

This child is our pursuit (chase) and that which will want us (hunter). This is the outcome of our love.

POEM:

This is the strength that your arm knows,
the arc of flesh that is my breast ,
the precise crystals of our eyes .

PARAPHRASE:

Your + mine = our.
This child is truly the crystals of our eyes.

POEM:

This is the blood ' s wild tree that grows
the intricate and folded rose.

PARAPHRASE:

The seed is the blood which grows like a wild tree and on it grows a rose which is closed and not yet bloomed or about to bloom.

POEM:

This is the maker and the made ;
this is the question and reply ;

PARAPHRASE:

This child makes itself so it is the maker and it is itself which is made. The child is the sought after.

POEM:

the blind head butting at the dark,
the blaze of light along the blade .
Oh hold me , for I am afraid .

PARAPHRASE:

I imagine the movement of my developing child in my womb. I am anxious!

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