Harmonium (Stevens)/Metaphors of a Magnifico

by Wallace Stevens

Metaphors of a Magnifico

Twenty men crossing a bridge,Into a village,Are twenty men crossing twenty bridges,Into twenty villages,Or one manCrossing a single bridge into a village.

This is old songThat will not declare itself . . .

Twenty men crossing a bridge,Into a village,AreTwenty men crossing a bridgeInto a village.

That will not declare itselfYet is certain as meaning . . .

The boots of the men clumpOn the boards of the bridge.The first white wall of the villageRises through fruit-trees.Of what was it I was thinking?

So the meaning escapes.

The first white wall of the village . . .The fruit-trees. . . .