Of Mere Being

Of Mere Being
The palm at the end of the mind,
Beyond the last thought, rises
In the bronze distance.

A gold-feathered bird
Sings in the palm, without human meaning,
Without human feeling, a foreign song.

You know then that it is not the reason
That makes us happy or unhappy.
The bird sings. Its feathers shine.

The palm stands on the edge of space.
The wind moves slowly in the branches.
The bird’s fire-fangled feathers dangle down.

The seventh and eighth lines really stick out to me in this poem. When he says, "You know it is then that it is not the reason That makes us happy or unhappy," it gives me a sort of image that happiness comes to people from within. You may not know where it is from or why it is there.

This poem is very hard to dicier what Stevens wants his readers to get out of it because it is so out there. The diction is full of imagery which leaves it open to so many interpretations. The ryme scheme and break up of the stanzas seems to be more like free verse and slightly blocky.