Life is not something we can hold upon. Life takes its own stride and before it slips, we don’t even get a chance to understand how it all happened. Life is too short to be relied upon. It never gives you all the time to be and do what you want to. You can never win over Life.
The poem in a single stanza has a lot to convey. If Life is to be enjoyed and lived, one must be precautious about living every moment of it. The phrase “and the days are not full enough” suggests that a person who is trying to achieve something may find the days too short to be able to do everything he supposed to do in a day.
And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass…– Ezra Pound
Thus, life never gives you enough time to be able to ponder upon things. It is important to utilize each day appropriately as you may not even get a chance to repent once the Life gets over.
“And the nights are not full enough” re-emphasizes on the fact that nights are too short for someone who is working hard to accomplish something. Life is to be lived fully without any regrets. It may never give you a chance to think and analyse. You may just live it and go into another world without knowing how it went. “Not shaking the grass” is symbolic of the fact that you will move out of life so unaware and without actually doing anything that you will realise that you were like a mouse in the field, when you lived.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The poet has the inexplicable ability to express the very truth of life in these four lines about Life. “And it slips like a field mouse” suggests that the Life is transient in nature. Before you can accomplish something big or make a mark in this world, your life is over. Life does not remain with you forever, it passes by slowly and a day arrives when it leaves you.
Even though the poem has a sense of regret and disappointment towards Life, the positive outlook is to make the most out of life as you never know when it would abandon you. You must live life as if it was with you just for the moment. You must captivate on it as much as you, giving your best to everything you do. It is one time that you live and the time is too short for you to depend upon Life.
Life always looks incomplete and there is always a scope for betterment. You strive hard to get what you want in life, but the time is always short for you to be successful in your attempt to achieve it. Life disappears in a moment and you are not able to utilize it fully. You remain lost in your efforts while the life passes away. Thus, it is foolish to count upon life to achieve anything as this is something which is not yours and which will go away without giving you any chance.