Text, Glossary and Line-by-Line Explanation

The Text

The child's foot is not yet aware it's a foot, and would like to be a butterfly or an apple.

But in time, stones and bits of glass, streets, ladders, and the paths in the rough earth go on teaching the foot that it cannot fly, cannot be a fruit bulging on the branch. Then, the child's foot is defeated, falls in the battle, is a prisoner condemned to live in a shoe.

Bit by bit, in that dark, it grows to know the world in its own way, out of touch with its fellow, enclosed, feeling out life like a blind man.

These soft nails of quartz, bunched together, grow hard, and change themselves into opaque substance, hard as horn, and the tiny, petaled toes of the child grow bunched and out of trim, take on the form of eyeless reptiles with triangular heads, like worms. Later, they grow callused and are covered with the faint volcanoes of death, a coarsening hard to accept.

But this blind thing walks without respite, never stopping for hour after hour, the one foot, the other, now the man's, now the woman's, up above, down below, through fields, mines, markets, and ministries, backwards, far afield, inward, forward, this foot toils in its shoe, scarcely taking time to bare itself in love or sleep; it walks, they walk, until the whole man chooses to stop.

And then it descended underground, unaware, for there, everything, everything was dark. It never knew it had ceased to be a foot or if they were burying it so that it could fly or so that it could become an apple.

Glossary

Line-by-Line Explanation, Part 1: Dream and Defeat

"The child's foot is not yet aware it's a foot, / and would like to be a butterfly or an apple." A child is innocent and does not yet know its limits. Its imagination is free: the foot dreams of being a butterfly (flight, freedom, colour) or an apple (ripeness, beauty, growth on a tree).

"But in time, stones and bits of glass, / streets, ladders, / and the paths in the rough earth / go on teaching the foot that it cannot fly" Life's hardships - painful stones and glass, hard streets, ladders to climb, rough paths - teach the foot the harsh truth: it cannot fly, cannot be a fruit bulging on a branch. Experience crushes imagination.

"Then, the child's foot / is defeated, falls / in the battle, / is a prisoner / condemned to live in a shoe." Growing up is shown as a battle that the child loses. The shoe is its prison - it stands for the rules, duties and fixed roles society forces on every adult. The foot has to give up its dreams.

Line-by-Line Explanation, Part 2: Life in the Shoe

"Bit by bit, in that dark, / it grows to know the world in its own way, / out of touch with its fellow, enclosed, / feeling out life like a blind man." Shut in the dark shoe, the foot slowly learns the world only through touch, like a blind man. It is separated even from the other foot - a picture of the loneliness and limited vision of adult life.

"These soft nails / of quartz … grow hard … / into opaque substance, hard as horn," The child's soft, clear nails, like quartz, become opaque and hard as horn - innocence and softness give way to hardness.

"and the tiny, petaled toes of the child / grow bunched and out of trim, / take on the form of eyeless reptiles / with triangular heads, like worms." The child's toes, once delicate like petals, become crowded and misshapen, like blind reptiles or worms - ugly, crawling creatures of the ground. The beauty of childhood is lost.

"Later, they grow callused / and are covered / with the faint volcanoes of death, / a coarsening hard to accept." In old age the feet become callused and covered with small swellings and corns - "faint volcanoes of death" that announce the approach of death. It is sad and hard to accept this roughening of the body.

Line-by-Line Explanation, Part 3: Endless Walking and Death

"But this blind thing walks / without respite, never stopping / for hour after hour," In spite of all this, the foot keeps walking without rest. The word "But" turns the poem from sadness towards admiration.

"the one foot, the other, / now the man's, / now the woman's, / up above, / down below, / through fields, mines, / markets, and ministries, / backwards, / far afield, inward, / forward," The short lines imitate footsteps. The foot belongs to everyone - man and woman - and goes everywhere: up and down, to fields (farmers), mines (labourers), markets (traders) and ministries (officials). It stands for all working people and their busy, restless lives.

"this foot toils in its shoe, / scarcely taking time / to bare itself in love or sleep; / it walks, they walk, / until the whole man chooses to stop." The foot hardly ever comes out of the shoe - only for love or sleep. It keeps working until the person dies.

"And then it descended / underground, unaware, / for there, everything, everything was dark." After death the foot is buried. It goes into total darkness, as unaware as it was in childhood.

"It never knew it had ceased to be a foot / or if they were burying it so that it could fly / or so that it could become / an apple." The poem comes full circle. As a child the foot did not know it was a foot; in death it does not know it has stopped being one. The last lines bring back the butterfly and apple dream, suggesting that death may free it at last - just as a seed is buried so that it can become a tree and bear fruit, or a caterpillar in its cocoon becomes a butterfly.

Poetic Devices and Features

Form. Free verse, with irregular line lengths. The very short lines in the walking passage imitate the rhythm of footsteps.

Tone. Begins tender, turns sad and bitter in the middle, becomes admiring, and ends in quiet mystery and hope.