The Wind — tapped like a tired Man —
And like a Host — “Come in”
I boldly answered — entered then
My Residence within
A Rapid — footless Guest —
To offer whom a Chair
Were as impossible as hand
A Sofa to the Air —
No Bone had He to bind Him —
His Speech was like the Push
Of numerous Humming Birds at once
From a superior Bush —
His Countenance — a Billow —
His Fingers, as He passed
Let go a music — as of tunes
Blown tremulous in Glass —
He visited — still flitting —
Then like a timid Man
Again, He tapped — ’twas flurriedly —
And I became alone —
Is the “Wind” an allegory for something else? Some contenders:
1. The wind is simply the wind.
2. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
3. Physical existence:
“So this life of man appears for a short space, but of what went before, or what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant” (Bede, 731 AD)
4.Spiritual existence:
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.” (Macbeth, 1606)
5. Charles Wadsworth: Wadsworth blew into her life in March 1855 and out in May 1862, “And I became alone —”.
6. And the winner is: All of the above and many more.