Then was my neophyte,
Child in white blood bent on its knees
Under the bell of rocks,
Ducked in the twelve, disciple seas
The winder of the water-clocks
Calls a green day and night.
My sea hermaphrodite,
Snail of man in His ship of fires
That burn the bitten decks,
Knew all His horrible desires
The climber of the water sex
Calls the green rock of light.
Who in these labyrinths,
This tidethread and the lane of scales,
Twine in a moon-blown shell,
Escapes to the flat cities' sails
Furled on the fishes' house and hell,
Nor falls to His green myths?
Stretch the salt photographs,
The landscape grief, love in His oils
Mirror from man to whale
That the green child see like a grail
Through veil and fin and fire and coil
Time on the canvas paths.
He films my vanity.
Shot in the wind, by tilted arcs,
Over the water come
Children from homes and children's parks
Who speak on a finger and thumb,
And the masked, headless boy.
His reels and mystery
The winder of the clockwise scene
Wound like a ball of lakes
Then threw on that tide-hoisted screen
Love's image till my heartbone breaks
By a dramatic sea.
Who kills my history?
The year-hedged row is lame with flint,
Blunt scythe and water blade.
'Who could snap off the shapeless print
From your to-morrow-treading shade
With oracle for eye?'
Time kills me terribly.
'Time shall not murder you,' He said,
'Nor the green nought be hurt;
Who could hack out your unsucked heart,
O green and unborn and undead?'
I saw time murder me.
From the start we are under the impression that this 'neophyte' is the subject at hand... Wikipedia tells me a neophyte is a beginner. In the context of Christianity, the term often refers to a newly ordained priest, monk, or a new convert to the religion. With this information I can now grasp the darker undertone going on here.
Child in white blood bent on its knees
Under the bell of rocks,
This first image is of a child in white, an innocent newcomer into the religion who is now bleeding from the knees from kneeling before God "Under the bell of rocks". I take it this bell of rocks is a euphemism for a church, but it isn't portrayed with the usual brightness and alleluias but with a certain deadness brought out with the emphasis on the word rocks.
Throughout this piece Dylan Thomas recycles the idea that this neophyte is in some way heading down a path with no answers. Starting with the third line, the poem becomes one big sailing metaphor. We see the word green six times, which is associated with someone who is seasick, and thereby an inexperienced seaman.
I also feel that there is a controlling entity within the poem. It is referred to in two separate instances in a similar way.
"The winder of the water-clocks"
"The winder of the clockwise scene"
This is most likely Thomas' reference to God or the institution of the church; either way it gives the impression that one is bound by restrictions. At last the poem is concluded with a final message to the reader (or maybe the neophyte, who could also be seen as the reader...)
"Time kills me terribly.
'Time shall not murder you,' He said,"
...
"I saw time murder me."
Here we see the higher power, whoever it is, specifically say "Time shall not murder you". Yet the speaker disproves this statement with the final line by saying "I saw time murder me"... Thomas could only be more direct if he said, "You lied about everything".
I originally chose this poem because; one, Dylan Thomas is my favorite poet. And two, because of the references to neophytes and the twelve disciples and such. Little did I know this was such a cynical piece of poetry but, I believe I like it more now. Its late. The end
p.s. sorry about the sporadic font changes and spaces between the lines. The settings change on their own and I don't know how to fix them... cheers
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