Original artwork, not a still
Where the Sidewalk Ends • 1974
Once I spoke the language of the flowers, Once I understood each word the caterpillar said, Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings, And shared a conversation with the housefly in my bed.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The repeated opening places a lost fluency in the past. Flowers, insects and birds once seemed available for conversation, making the natural world a community rather than a backdrop. Remembering those exchanges carries both delight and distance, suggesting an imaginative openness the speaker can recall more easily than recover.
Context reviewed
